Word Of The Week: Fructify

This week’s word is “fructify.”

Fructify

1. make fruitful or productive
2. bear fruit
3. become fruitful

“Fructify” began with an agricultural meaning as far back as the 14th century and derives from the Latin noun fructus meaning “fruit” and later from the Middle English word “fructifien” (fruit). Its usage was later expanded to convey a figurative sense of “fruit,” and it is now more frequently used to refer to the positive impact of one thing upon another (such as dividends from an investment). The Latin root fructus also gave us the name of the sugar “fructose,” and the less common word “usufruct,” which refers to the legal right to enjoy the produce or profits of something owned by someone else.

Synonyms for fructify:

• ameliorate
• improve
• better

Examples of “fructify” usage

An effective professional relationship can never fructify without trust and honesty from both parties. 

The perfectly timed rains and the warm sun fructified the vines and yielded a bumper crop of grapes.

How would you use “fructify” in a sentence?

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