adj. 1 a (of soil) producing abundant vegetation or crops. b fruitful. 2 a (of a seed, egg, etc.) capable of becoming a new individual. b (of animals and plants) able to conceive young or produce fruit. 3 (of the mind) inventive. 4 (of nuclear material) able to become fissile by the capture of neutrons. Fertile Crescent the fertile region extending in a crescent shape from the E. Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. fertility n.
[ ME f. F f. L fertilis ]