adj
Meaning 1
Not productive; useless; fruitless.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Juggling is an amusing pastime, but generally unproductive.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
unproductive
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˌʌn.pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ʌktɪv
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CMU ARPABET: AH2 N P R AH0 D AH1 K T IH0 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
No longer used to produce new words (see examples).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: mechanisms of word formation; etc; mechanisms of word formation; etc
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
Meaning 3
not producing or capable of producing
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- elimination of high-cost or unproductive industries
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: productive
adjective satellite
Meaning 4
not producing desired results
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the talks between labor and management were unproductive
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Italic *pro- Latin prō- Proto-Indo-European *dewk- Proto-Indo-European *déwkti Proto-Italic *doukō Latin dūcō Latin prōdūcō Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Late Latin prōductīvusbor. English productive English unproductive From un- + productive.
Across languages
Translations
29 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: joprodhues — not productive
- Catalan: improductiu — not productive
- Chinese Mandarin: 無生產的 /无生产的 (wúshēngchǎn de) — not productive
- Czech: neproduktivní — not productive
- Dutch: onproductief — not productive
- Dutch: improductief — not productive
- Finnish: tuottamaton — not productive
- French: improductif — not productive
- German: unproduktiv — not productive
- Hungarian: terméketlen — not productive
- Hungarian: improduktív — not productive
- Hungarian: gyümölcstelen — not productive
- Hungarian: meddő — not productive
- Hungarian: szaporátlan — not productive
- Italian: improduttivo — not productive
- Japanese: 非生産的 (hiseisanteki) — not productive
- Māori: whiro — not productive
- Māori: mūhore — not productive
- Māori: tītōhea — not productive
- Māori: pūweku — not productive
- Māori: pūeku — not productive
- Plautdietsch: fruchtlooss — not productive
- Polish: bezproduktywny — not productive
- Polish: nieproduktywny — not productive
- Portuguese: improdutivo — not productive
- Romanian: neproductiv — not productive
- Romanian: nefructuos — not productive
- Russian: непродукти́вный (neproduktívnyj) — not productive
- Russian: непроизводи́тельный (neproizvodítelʹnyj) — not productive
Real reading context