Synonyms for unproductive
- adjective
All synonyms
Adjective
non-productive, fruitless, ineffective, waste, unfruitful, futile, unprofitable, ineffectual, barren, poor, vain, arid, dry, fallow, sterile, desert, masturbatory, lean, bootless, infecund, acarpous, unprolific, unyieldly, pointless, worthless, idle, unsuccessful, infertile, abortive, unavailing, jejune, profitless, otiose, infructuous dated IN
Definitions
- adj. 1
Not productive; useless; fruitless.
Juggling is an amusing pastime, but generally unproductive.
Related words
- Word family
- unproductively unproductiveness
- Phrases
- unproductive time
Example sentences
- ineffective Washing your hands without soap is ineffective work.
- fruitless After three fruitless attempts, he tried one last time.
- unfruitful I'm afraid your plan will prove unfruitful.
- barren Algeria's Sahara is barren and sparsely populated.
- futile When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| unproductive | steady | |
| ineffective | steady | |
| fruitless | steady | |
| unfruitful | steady | |
| barren | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- dry1
- 4 letters
- poor1, lean1, vain1, idle2, arid2
- 5 letters
- waste1
- 6 letters
- desert2, futile2, barren2, fallow2, jejune2, otiose3
- 7 letters
- sterile2
- 8 letters
- abortive3, bootless, infecund, acarpous
- 9 letters
- pointless2, worthless2, fruitless2, infertile3, unyieldly
- 10 letters
- unfruitful, unavailing4, profitless, unprolific
- 11 letters
- ineffective4, ineffectual5, infructuous
- 12 letters
- unsuccessful4, unprofitable5, masturbatory
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (idle2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- improductif
- Italiano
- improduttivo