unproductive
adj.not producing good results or doing enough work. You use this to describe a person, a meeting, or a period of time where nothing useful happens.
adj.failing to produce a desired result or a significant amount of output. Often used to describe labor, land, or professional activities that do not yield profit or progress.
“The meeting was unproductive and we made no decisions.”
“After three hours of unproductive debate, the committee decided to postpone the vote until more data was available.”
“Economists warned that an unproductive workforce could lead to long-term stagnation, as the lack of innovation prevents the industry from competing on a global scale.”
Often follows linking verbs like 'be', 'become', or 'remain'.
Learners sometimes use the adverb form after a linking verb instead of the adjective.
“As more cells enter this unproductive state, fewer remain available to carry out the liver's normal work.”
From un- + productive.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.