Meaning & use
prolific
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Producing a great many works, results or goals, especially in art, writing or sport.
Grammar: Describes people or their output: a prolific author.
Patterns
- a prolific writer
- prolific in something
She is a prolific author who publishes two novels a year.
The striker was prolific in front of goal last season.
He was a prolific inventor with hundreds of patents.
adjectivecomparablebiology
Producing many young or a large quantity of fruit or seeds.
Grammar: Used of plants and animals: prolific breeders.
Patterns
- a prolific breeder
Rabbits are prolific breeders.
The apple tree was prolific this year.
Word forms
| comparative | more prolific |
|---|---|
| superlative | most prolific |
Common combinations
- prolific writer
- He was a prolific writer of detective stories.
- prolific scorer
- The team signed a prolific scorer.
- prolific output
- Her prolific output surprised critics.
- prolific breeder
- The mouse is a prolific breeder.
Synonyms and how they differ
- productive
- Is wider, and can mean achieving a lot without implying huge numbers.
- fertile
- Describes the ability to produce, especially of soil, minds or creatures, rather than the actual amount produced.
- abundant
- Describes things that exist in large amounts, not the people producing them.
Opposites
Word family
- prolifically adverb
- in a way that produces a lot
- proliferate verb
- to increase rapidly in number
- proliferation noun
- rapid increase in number
Commonly confused: prolific or proficient?
prolific vs proficient
Proficient means skilled; prolific means producing a great deal.
Practice
Which person is best described as prolific?
Choose one answer.
Prolific means producing a large amount, so a novelist with forty books fits. The others describe low output or have no link to output.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prolific”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.