unproductive


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un·pro·duc·tive

 (ŭn′prə-dŭk′tĭv)
adj.
1. Not productive; idle.
2.Economics Adding nothing to exchangeable value.

un′pro·duc′tive·ly adv.
un′pro·duc′tive·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

unproductive

(ˌʌnprəˈdʌktɪv)
adj
1. (often foll by of) not productive of (anything)
2. (Economics) not producing goods and services with exchange value
ˌunproˈductivelyadv
ˌunproˈductiveness,unˌproducˈtivityn
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.unproductive - not producing or capable of producingunproductive - not producing or capable of producing; "elimination of high-cost or unproductive industries"
uncreative - not creative; "an uncreative imagination"
infertile,sterile,unfertile - incapable of reproducing; "an infertile couple"
unprofitable - producing little or no profit or gain; "deposits abandoned by mining companies as unprofitable"
productive - producing or capable of producing (especially abundantly); "productive farmland"; "his productive years"; "a productive collaboration"
2.unproductive - not producing desired resultsunproductive - not producing desired results; "the talks between labor and management were unproductive"
ineffective,ineffectual,uneffective - not producing an intended effect; "an ineffective teacher"; "ineffective legislation"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

unproductive

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

unproductive

adjective
Lacking or unable to produce growing plants or crops:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

unproductive

[ˈʌnprəˈdʌktɪv]ADJ [capital, soil etc] →improductivo; [meeting etc] →infructuoso
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

unproductive

[ˌʌnprəˈdʌktɪv]adj [day, factory, capital] →improductif/ive; [land] →improductif/ive,stérile; [discussion, meeting] →stérile
The meeting was unproductive →Laréunion n'a riendonné.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

unproductive

adj capitalnichtgewinnbringend, keinenGewinn bringendattr;soilunfruchtbar,ertragsarm;discussion, meetingunproduktiv,unergiebig;factory, workerunproduktiv
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

unproductive

[ˌʌnprəˈdʌktɪv]adjimproduttivo/a; (discussion) →sterile
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995


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References in classic literature?
Now, the moral side of an industry, productive orunproductive, the redeeming and ideal aspect of this bread-winning, is the attainment and preservation of the highest possible skill on the part of the craftsmen.
One of these hills is the ancient Mount of Blessings and the other the Mount of Curses and wise men who seek for fulfillments of prophecy think they find here a wonder of this kind--to wit, that the Mount of Blessings is strangely fertile and its mate as strangelyunproductive. We could not see that there was really much difference between them in this respect, however.
Though her engagement to Martin had been kept secret, their long intimacy had not beenunproductive of gossip; and in the shop, glancing covertly at her lover and his following, had been several of her acquaintances.
Only during the first days of his stay in Moscow Levin had been struck by the expenditure, strange to one living in the country,unproductive but inevitable, that was expected of him on every side.
Here was Arthur left to me at last; and rousing from my despondent apathy, I exerted all my powers to eradicate the weeds that had been fostered in his infant mind, and sow again the good seed they had renderedunproductive. Thank heaven, it is not a barren or a stony soil; if weeds spring fast there, so do better plants.
Seven-tenths of the free popula- tion of the country were of just their class and degree: small "independent" farmers, artisans, etc.; which is to say, they were the nation, the actual Nation; they were about all of it that was useful, or worth sav- ing, or really respect-worthy, and to subtract them would have been to subtract the Nation and leave behind some dregs, some refuse, in the shape of a king, nobility and gentry, idle,unproductive, acquainted mainly with the arts of wasting and destroying, and of no sort of use or value in any rationally constructed world.
The letter was notunproductive. It re-established peace and kindness.
She, the daughter of a petty baron, who boasted for all his domains but a ruinous tower, and anunproductive vineyard, and some few leagues of the barren Landes of Bourdeaux, her name was known wherever deeds of arms were done, known wider than that of many a lady's that had a county for a dowery.
The nature of a court of equity will readily permit the extension of its jurisdiction to matters of law; but it is not a little to be suspected, that the attempt to extend the jurisdiction of the courts of law to matters of equity will not only beunproductive of the advantages which may be derived from courts of chancery, on the plan upon which they are established in this State, but will tend gradually to change the nature of the courts of law, and to undermine the trial by jury, by introducing questions too complicated for a decision in that mode.
A small, low door gave egress from the walled space we have been describing into the projected street, the ground having been abandoned asunproductive by its various renters, and had now fallen so completely in general estimation as to return not even the one-half per cent it had originally paid.
Linnaeus has calculated that if an annual plant produced only two seeds--and there is no plant sounproductive as this--and their seedlings next year produced two, and so on, then in twenty years there would be a million plants.
Beetles occur in very small numbers: it was long before I could believe that a country as large as Scotland, covered with vegetable productions and with a variety of stations, could be sounproductive. The few which I found were alpine species (Harpalidae and Heteromidae) living under stones.

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