progenitive

[ proh-jen-i-tiv ]

adjective

1. capable of having offspring; reproductive.

progenitive

/ prəʊˈdʒɛnɪtɪv /

adjective

1. capable of bearing offspring

Derived Forms

• proˈgenitiveness, noun

Other Words From

• pro·geni·tive·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of progenitive¹

First recorded in 1830–40; progenit(or) + -ive

Example Sentences

The progenitive faculty of this worthy divine must have been highly developed: he was married four times, and was dismissed from his church at Lynn on account of charges twice preferred against him by women of his congregation.

From Project Gutenberg

This kind of reading is necessarily singular and labor-intensive rather than dialectical or progenitive.

From New York Times

Thus a spiritual gingham impressed upon his soul of souls a matrix, out of which, by a fine progenitive effort, he now begets and ejects a materialized gingham into a potato-plot of the garden without.

From Project Gutenberg

The Gauchos call the former the "Padre del sal," and the latter the "Madre;" they state that these progenitive salts always occur on the borders of the salinas, when the water begins to evaporate.

From Project Gutenberg