different between prolific vs proliferate

English

Alternative forms

• prolifick (obsolete)

Etymology

1640–1650: from French prolifique, from Latin proles (“offspring”) and facere (“to make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p???l?f.?k/, /?p?o??l?f.?k/
• Rhymes: -?f?k
• Hyphenation: pro?li?fic

Adjective

prolific (comparative more prolific, superlative most prolific)

1. Fertile; producing offspring or fruit in abundance — applied to plants producing fruit, animals producing young, etc.
2. Similarly producing results or performing deeds in abundance
   • 2007, Ted Jones, The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers, 58:

     However appealing Antibes may be to migrant authors, indigenous ones are relatively scarce. A notable exception is Jacques Audiberti, Antibes-born novelist and prolific playwright who wrote in the turn-of-the-century surrealist style, with titles that translate as Slaughter, or In Favour of Infanticide.
3. (botany) Of a flower: from which another flower is produced.

Synonyms

• fertile
• (producing offspring or fruit in abundance): fecund
• (producing results or works in abundance): See also Thesaurus:productive

Derived terms

Translations

References

• prolific in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Romanian

Etymology

From French prolifique

Adjective

prolific m or n (feminine singular prolific?, masculine plural prolifici, feminine and neuter plural prolifice)

1. prolific

Declension

Related terms

• prolificitate

English

Etymology

From Latin proles (“offspring”) + ferre (“to bear”) + -ate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???l?f.??.e?t/

Verb

proliferate (third-person singular simple present proliferates, present participle proliferating, simple past and past participle proliferated)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To increase in number or spread rapidly; to multiply.

   The flowers proliferated rapidly all spring.

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• proliferate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• proliferate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Italian

Verb

proliferate

1. inflection of proliferare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
2. feminine plural of proliferato

Anagrams

• petrolifera