Meanings
comparative more contraproductive · superlative most contraproductive
- nonstandardnon-native speakers' EnglishCounterproductive.
Underlying all this is a thread that suggests we should strive to "cooperate" with nature, and the aggression is generally contraproductive.
1984 December 19, d.skran, “Men/Hate, Women/Love.”, in net.women (Usenet), retrieved 02 May 20225 more examples
Fey is for the pompous, oversensitive, ultra-elite; and thus the limp-wristed faggoty, swishing, exhibishionistic gays that are in the extreme stereotype of lifestyle that is contraproductive to evolution, let alone society.
1996 January 17, Warren Hall, “Disney corrupting youth again”, in alt.folklore.urban (Usenet), retrieved 02 May 2022You can convert your HardDrive to FAT32 with Partition Magic 3 or higher, but FAT32 is NOT recognized by Win95(a), so it is not only useless, but contraproductive, if you don't have Win95B
1997 June 4, Andreas Heib, “Win95 revision b”, in alt.windows95 (Usenet), retrieved 02 May 2022The point is not that he writes about beta-version. I can stand this. The point is, that he is writing unbelievable , often contraproductive stuff about beta-versions, meanwhile he critisizes me to play with CSTal. He calls MY matches ADVERTISING and his stuff or praising religiously: information.
1997 July 29, mclane, “Chess Analysis Software”, in rec.games.chess.computer (Usenet), retrieved 02 May 2022So I think, that my point may have some value, because if Mat's memories consist mostly of sword-fighting experiences, and we assume, that they are useful in some way, they may also be contraproductive in another way. And if they have no influence alltogether, then the claim of "Unbeka", that Mat profits from them is naught.
1998 July 29, Markus Rasch, “Of Swords and Time”, in rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan (Usenet), retrieved 02 May 2022And has this American any authority to give people in Germany orders? Apart from that, isn't it rather contraproductive and immature to order such things?
1998 July 30, Ole Kreiberg, “What does this have to do with German Culture”, in soc.culture.german (Usenet), retrieved 02 May 2022
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
- Proto-Italic*kom
- Proto-Italic*kom-
- Proto-Italic*komteros
- Proto-Italic*komterād
- Latincontrā
- Englishcontra-
- Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
- Proto-Indo-European*pér
- Proto-Indo-European*pró
- Proto-Indo-European*pro-
- Proto-Italic*pro-
- Latinprō-
- Proto-Indo-European*dewk-
- Proto-Indo-European*déwkti
- Proto-Italic*doukō
- Latindūcō
- Latinprōdūcō
- Late Latinprōductīvus
- Englishproductive
- Englishcontraproductive
From contra- + productive. Spontaneously calqued from the users' respective native language, e.g. German kontraproduktiv, Romanian contraproductiv.
More words from German, Romanian
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
contraproductive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contraproductive
“contraproductive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contraproductive. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “contraproductive,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contraproductive.
Source: contraproductive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.