prolific
/prəˈlɪfɪk
/adjective
1(Of a plant, animal, or person) producing much fruit or foliage or many offspring: in captivity tigers are prolific breeders...
- Both are frequently images of creativity: rabbits are prolific and snakes shed their skins and grow new ones as an act of renewal.
- It is one of Britain's most prolific weeds, with its creeping, fanned leaves having taken over large swathes of countryside.
- Backs of vacant houses create a poor impression at the Docks, where weeds were quite prolific on the gravel areas.
Synonyms
productive, creative, inventive, fertile
1.1(Of an artist, author, or composer) producing many works: he was a prolific composer of operas...
- A prolific poet and author, he appears for the time being to have put down his pen.
- She is also a prolific composer of ballads in English and Irish.
- Beamish is one of the best-known names in classical music, and Britain's most prolific composer of concertos.
1.2(Of a sports player) high-scoring: a prolific goalscorer...
- In fact, the line-backer has been a more prolific scorer this season than many offensive players throughout the league.
- Missing some of their regular players including their prolific scorer, Thomas Doyle, they still managed to gain a point from this fixture.
- They aren't the most prolific scorers in the league but their goals come from all over the team and with a solid back four they are third in the league on merit.
2Present in large numbers or quantities; plentiful: mahogany was once prolific in the tropical forests...
- Forty-six species of wildlife have been identified here and the bird life is prolific.
- Restricted movement causes increased pollution and traffic lights are becoming so prolific there must be a drain on power supplies.
- What has changed is that this technology has become prolific.
Synonyms
plentiful, abundant, bountiful, profuse, copious, luxuriant, rich, lush, proliferative;
fertile, fruitful, fecund;
rife, rank
literary plenteous, bounteous
rare proliferous
2.1Characterized by plentiful wildlife or produce: the prolific rivers around Galway...
- The Dee in Aberdeenshire, once a highly prolific spring river, continues to suffer from a dreadful lack of these big early salmon.
- From Cape Wrath to Campbeltown, once prolific river systems have been denuded of their most precious asset.
- Beats higher up the river are often more prolific this late in the season with fish running hard to the middle and upper stretches.
Derivatives
prolificacy
- Despite their solidly middle-class roots, the Boultings offered an example of how enthusiastic hopefuls could carve a name for themselves in film from the bottom up through sheer determination and prolificacy.
- Syrie Johnson goes behind the scenes at the Oscars and finds a prolificacy of pampering, plucking, pinching and preening - all in the pursuit of celebrity
- Their side benefited most from the prolificacy of their neighbours, but Jim Duffy's men hovered steadfastly in a holding pattern without achieving lift off.
prolifically
/ adverb ...- There is quite a bit of maintenance, as everyone knows we shed hair prolifically and when wearing extensions the real hair cannot escape, as it's attached to the extension.
- In aromatherapy, many essential oils often used as anti-depressants, such as jasmine, rose, neroli, rosemary and lavender, are extracted from plants that flower most prolifically in spring and summer.
- As someone who rails prolifically against the irrelevance of political science to actual politics, I would have been glad to talk about whether blogging may help make scholarship more relevant.
prolificness
- Geeks get their credibility and prolificness out of sharing everything - put it in public and the public organizes it for you.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from medieval Latin prolificus, from Latin proles 'offspring' (see proliferous).