# productive

/pɝˈdəktɪv/ (US) · /pɹədˈʌktɪv/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/productive
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. doing a lot of work

adjective · CEFR B2

doing or achieving a lot of work in a short time.

For teachers: achieving or producing a significant amount or yield; characterized by high efficiency and output.

- I had a very productive morning and finished all my emails before lunch.
- The research team enjoyed a highly productive decade, publishing over fifty papers in peer-reviewed journals and securing several major patents.

### 2. useful or constructive

adjective · CEFR B2

leading to a good or useful result.

For teachers: yielding positive, useful, or constructive results in a professional or social context.

- We had a productive meeting and finally agreed on a new plan.
- Despite their initial disagreements, the two diplomats engaged in a productive dialogue that eventually led to a formal ceasefire.

### 3. linguistic patterns

adjective · CEFR C1 · Academic · Technical

used to describe a rule or ending that can be used to make many new words.

For teachers: referring to a linguistic rule or morpheme that is currently used by speakers to form new words or grammatical structures.

- The suffix '-ness' is very productive because you can add it to many adjectives to make nouns.
- While some plural endings in English are fossilized, the '-s' suffix remains highly productive, being applied automatically to almost any new noun entering the language.

### 4. medical/coughing

adjective · CEFR C1 · Technical

a type of cough that produces mucus or phlegm.

For teachers: characterized by the production of mucus or sputum from the respiratory tract.

- The doctor asked if his cough was dry or productive.
- The patient presented with a productive cough and chest pain, suggesting a possible lower respiratory tract infection rather than a simple viral cold.

## Examples

- I had a very productive morning and finished all my emails.
- The two companies had a productive meeting and agreed on a new partnership deal.
- While the suffix '-ness' is highly productive in modern English, other endings like '-th' are now largely dormant and no longer generate new vocabulary.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.