fecund

/ˈfiːkənd/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈfiːkənd/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈfe-kənd ˈfē-/ (ame, mw)

fecund — adjective

  • fecundpositive
  • more fecundcomparative
  • most fecundsuperlative

1. (of land, animals, or people) yielding offspring, crops, or young in large numbe

1.形容詞C2
釋義

(of land, animals, or people) yielding offspring, crops, or young in large numbers; physically very fertile.

例句

The fecund soil along the Mekong river feeds three rice harvests every year.

subject: fecund + noun describing land or soil

Rodrigo's family of dairy goats turned out to be remarkably fecund that spring.

predicative use: be fecund (after a linking verb)

同義詞
  • fertile

    the everyday word; works in casual speech as well as scientific writing

  • prolific

    stresses sheer quantity of offspring or output; less tied to land

  • fruitful

    literary; often applied to land, trees, or efforts that produce good results

反義詞
  • barren

    of land or living things that cannot produce anything

  • sterile

    biologically unable to reproduce; medical or scientific use

用法筆記

Subject is usually land, soil, or a living thing capable of reproducing. In modern English the word feels literary or scientific; in daily speech most speakers say 'fertile' instead.

常見錯誤

❌My garden is fecund this year — look at the tomatoes!
✅My garden is producing well this year
💡look at the tomatoes!' — 'fecund' is too formal for casual conversation; save it for writing or scientific contexts.

2. producing a steady stream of new ideas, designs, or works of art; mentally or ar

2.形容詞C2
釋義

producing a steady stream of new ideas, designs, or works of art; mentally or artistically very inventive.

例句

Critics still praise the fecund imagination of the young Brazilian poet Élise Cardoso.

fecund + abstract noun (imagination, mind)

Vienna in the 1890s was a fecund period for painting, music, and new psychological theories.

fecund + time period in cultural or scientific history

同義詞
  • prolific

    the most common everyday alternative for steady creative output

  • inventive

    stresses originality of each idea, not just quantity

  • productive

    neutral; can describe workers and machines as well as minds

反義詞
  • uninspired

    lacking fresh ideas; everyday word

  • sterile

    of a debate, period, or environment that produces nothing new

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense applies to the mind, an era, or a creative environment, never to land, animals, or people's reproductive capacity. The 'output' is ideas, art, or theories rather than offspring.

常見錯誤

❌The writer was fecund and had three children.
✅The writer was prolific and had three children.
💡mixing the creative sense with the reproductive sense in one sentence reads as a pun; pick one sense per sentence.