fructification

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the process of bearing or producing fruit

   Warm weather accelerated the fructification of the orchard trees.

2. 2
   noun

   a plant's fruiting or reproductive structure, especially one that bears spores

   The botanist examined the fern's fructification under a lens.

3. 3
   noun

   the growth, development, or productive result of an idea or undertaking

   The movement found favorable conditions for its growth and fructification abroad.

Borrowed from Late Latin fructificatio, 'the act of producing fruit,' from fructificare, 'to bear fruit.' That verb combines Latin fructus, 'fruit or produce,' with facere, 'to make.' The botanical meaning later supported a figurative sense of productive growth or development.

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