as in worthless
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Recent Examples of nonproductive
Pruning also thins nonproductive stems, allowing light to reach the interior of the tree and ripen the fruit.
—
Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Dec. 2025
The key is refusing to engage in circular or baiting conversations, instead setting boundaries and exiting nonproductive conversations.
—Angela Haupt, Time, 30 Oct. 2025
Course of trade in the oil industry often leaves the public on the hook for nonproductive well cleanup costs, including capping.
—Andrew Leahey, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Buoyed by the early promise of its Dravet therapeutic, the company developed a second drug candidate, STK-002, that similarly targets splicing to turn nonproductive gene transcripts into constructive ones.
—Elie Dolgin, Discover Magazine, 26 Apr. 2023
Remove all twiggy, dead or nonproductive growth.
—oregonlive, 8 Mar. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nonproductive
Adjective
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The gain from a call option would exceed the return on the stock alone, but involves greater risk than simply buying the stock because the contracts can expire worthless.—
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When Ukraine agreed to give up the nuclear weapons on its soil in the mid-1990s, Russia provided a security guarantee that proved worthless.—
Adjective
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The reporting shows that plenty of fear and uncertainty remain over the untold billions of dollars being poured into wildly unprofitable AI ventures — a dynamic that’s seen AI companies’ valuations skyrocket to record heights, despite dubious prospects of ever turning a profit.—
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But Roosevelt’s dedication to bringing electricity to rural America, a move that utilities regarded as unprofitable, created most of the truly public power entities in existence today.—
Adjective
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Gerstner slashed costs and sold off unproductive assets, including real estate and IBM’s collection of fine art.—
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Unless societies can chart a path between recognizing human freedom and acknowledging the peril of depopulation, the conversation about low fertility will be, at best, unproductive and, at worst, actively dangerous for individual rights.—
Adjective
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But her appeal was unsuccessful.—
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Industry lobbying unsuccessful to date Some advocates for the restaurant industry have been lobbying to change the way service fees are treated.—
Adjective
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Speaking with a rioter is pointless.—
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Being a reader means cultivating a relationship with the world that, by most standards, can seem pointless and counterproductive.—
Adjective
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Brown’s statement on Monday was mostly useless corporate-speak.—
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This tiny amount of copper acts as a molecular steering wheel, preventing sugar molecules from shattering into useless carbon dioxide.—
Adjective
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The social media profiles of some Moran personnel also show they were linked to Wagner, which was effectively liquidated after its then boss Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an abortive revolt in Russia in 2023.—
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Even as Nintendo has endlessly mined its classic consoles for nostalgic re-releases in recent decades, the company has seemed to completely ignore the existence of the Virtual Boy—its abortive 1990s dip into the world of early virtual reality.—
Adjective
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The position advanced by the states is legally unavailing as a matter of longstanding and well-established law.—
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Efforts to aid him with lifeboats, three of which were ineffectually trying to breast the heavy sea, were unavailing, while a lifeline, held by a number of rescuers, was carried far out into the surf by a number of swimmers.—
Cite this Entry
“Nonproductive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nonproductive. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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