productivity

pro·duc·ti·vi·ty
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UK/ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/UK/-vɪti/British, Southern, Standard/ˌpɹɔdʌkˈtɪvətɪj/British, Southern, Standard/-vɪtɪj/

noun

The state of being productive, fertile, or efficient.

“You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.”

CommonScrabble 23

Meanings

nounproductivity (usually uncountable, plural productivities)

plural productivities

  1. uncountableusuallyThe state of being productive, fertile, or efficient.

    Synonyms: productiveness

  2. uncountableusuallyThe rate at which goods or services are produced by a standard population of workers; those workers' degree of efficiency.

    You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.

    1 more example

    Productivity growth has disappointed across the western world since the 2008 financial crisis. But the UK has notched a significantly worse performance than many of its peers on this metric of output for each hour of work – which is a vital driver of economic growth, wages and living standards.

    2025 October 31, Richard Partington, “‘The money machine is misfiring’: City blames Brexit for UK’s £20bn productivity headache”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  3. uncountableusuallyThe rate at which crops are grown on a standard area of land.
  4. uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesThe ability to form new words using established patterns and discrete linguistic elements, such as the derivational affixes -ness and -ity; the degree to which such formation happens.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe state of being productive, fertile, or efficient.

More synonyms by meaning

nounthe quality of being productive or having the power to produce

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pró
  4. Proto-Indo-European*pro-
  5. Proto-Italic*pro-
  6. Latinprō-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*dewk-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*déwkti
  9. Proto-Italic*doukō
  10. Latindūcō
  11. Latinprōdūcō
  12. Late Latinprōductīvus
  13. Englishproductive
  14. Englishproductivity

From productive + -ity.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic إنْتَاجِيَّة
  • إنْتَاجِيَّة (ʔintājiyya)state of being productive
Catalan productivitat
  • productivitatstate of being productive
Chinese Mandarin 生產力 /生产力, 效率
  • 生產力 /生产力 (shēngchǎnlì)state of being productive
  • 效率 (xiàolǜ)state of being productive
Czech produktivita
  • produktivitastate of being productive
Dutch vruchtbaar
  • vruchtbaarstate of being productive
Esperanto produktiveco
  • produktivecostate of being productive
Finnish tuottavuus, tuotteliaisuus
  • tuottavuusstate of being productive
  • tuotteliaisuusstate of being productive
  • hedelmällisyysstate of being productive
  • tehokkuusstate of being productive
  • tuottavuusrate at which goods or services are produced by a standard population of workers
  • joutuisuusrate at which goods or services are produced by a standard population of workers
  • satoisuusrate at which crops are grown on a standard area of land
French productivité
  • productivitéstate of being productive
German Produktivität, Leistungsfähigkeit
  • Produktivitätstate of being productive
  • Leistungsfähigkeitstate of being productive
Greek παραγωγικότητα
  • παραγωγικότητα (paragogikótita)state of being productive
Indonesian keproduktifan
  • keproduktifanstate of being productive
Irish táirgiúlacht, bisiúlacht
  • táirgiúlachtstate of being productive
  • bisiúlachtstate of being productive
Italian produttività
  • produttivitàstate of being productive
Japanese 生産性
  • 生産性 (seisansei)state of being productive
Norwegian Bokmål produktivitet
  • produktivitetstate of being productive
Polish produktywność, produktywność
  • produktywnośćstate of being productive
  • produktywnośćrate at which goods or services are produced by a standard population of workers
Portuguese produtividade
  • produtividadestate of being productive
Romanian productivitate, productivitate
  • productivitatestate of being productive
  • productivitaterate at which goods or services are produced by a standard population of workers
Russian производи́тельность, продукти́вность
  • производи́тельность (proizvodítelʹnostʹ)state of being productive
  • продукти́вность (produktívnostʹ)state of being productive
  • производи́тельность (proizvodítelʹnostʹ)rate at which goods or services are produced by a standard population of workers
Spanish productividad
  • productividadstate of being productive
Tagalog pagkamalalangin, pagkamalalangin
  • pagkamalalanginstate of being productive
  • pagkamalalanginrate at which goods or services are produced by a standard population of workers
  • pagkamalalanginrate at which crops are grown on a standard area of land
Thai ผลิตภาพ
  • ผลิตภาพ (pà-lìt-dtà-pâap)state of being productive
Cite this entry
APA

productivity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/productivity

MLA

“productivity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/productivity. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “productivity,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/productivity.

Source: productivity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.