something that is made or grown, usually in large numbers, so that it can be sold or used
The new smartphone product sold out within hours.
She tested the skin-care product on her hand before buying it.
✦ From Latin productum, meaning ‘something brought forth’.
a result or outcome that comes from a particular action, process, or situation
The novel is a product of years of research and imagination.
Her confidence is the product of constant practice.
in mathematics, the number you get when you multiply two or more numbers together
The product of 7 and 8 is 56.
To find the area, multiply the two sides and write down the product.
in chemistry, a substance that is formed during or after a chemical reaction
Water is a product of hydrogen and oxygen reacting together.
The reaction produced two gaseous products.
working in a way that gets a lot done or achieves good results
After a productive morning, Mia had finished all her homework before lunch.
Turning off his phone helped Luca stay productive while studying for the exam.
✦ From Latin productivus, from producere “to bring forth, produce”.
(linguistics) actively used for making new words or grammatical forms
In English, the suffix "-ness" is still productive because we can make new words like "kindness".
The professor explained that the rule for adding "-ed" to form the past tense is productive.
(medical) producing a bodily substance such as mucus
He went to the clinic with a productive cough full of mucus.
Doctors worry when a productive cough lasts more than three weeks.
the rate at which goods or services are produced compared with the resources, time, or workers needed to produce them
Automation raised the factory's productivity by twenty percent.
Economists compare productivity between countries to understand growth.
✦ From productive + -ity, first recorded in the early 19th century to describe economic output per worker.
