Kevin
May 4, 2021
Common Questions
Have you ever been confused by the definition of conducive? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the phrase conducive, including its definition, origin, usage, examples of conducive, and more!
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According to Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged English Dictionary, the word conducive (pronounced kənˈdjuːsɪv) is an adjective that describes something that tends to produce something else. This adjective describes a cause and effect situation. For example, healthy eating habits and exercising regularly are conducive to good health, whereas smoking three packs a day is conducive to getting lung cancer or emphysema. The word conducive is often followed by the word to, and is used to compare one thing that leads to something else. Related words to conducive include conduciveness, nonconducive, nonconduciveness, unconducive, and conducively. Try using this word of the day or other new words in a sentence today!
The word conducive is also present in many other languages to describe something that tends to contribute to, or bring about some result. You may notice that some of these translations look or sound similar to the word conducive. This is likely because both of these words are from a common origin. The English language has many different words that come from other languages. This list of translations for the word conducive is provided by Word Sense.
According to Etymonline, the adjective conducive has been used since the 1640s to describe something that has the quality of promoting for furthering. Etymonline also states that this comes from the word conduce. Conduce is a verb that has been used since the year 1400 to mean to lead or conduct. This sense of the word is now obsolete. The word conduce comes from the Latin conducere meaning to lead or bring together. This comes from the prefix com, meaning together or with, and the root ducere, meaning to lead. This comes from the Proto-Indo-European root deuk meaning to lead. This has been used as an intransitive verb since the 1580s. Related words include the adverb conducively and the noun conduciveness.
The word conducive can be used in many different ways to describe cause and effect situations or contributory factors. In this example, Noah keeps falling asleep in class. His teacher Ms. Harris keeps him after class to talk to him.
Ms. Harris: Noah, I’m sure you know why I kept you after.
Noah: I fell asleep again.
Ms. Harris: Very good. Now, I’m sure you know falling asleep in class is not exactly conducive to learning the material. Is everything okay?
Noah: Yeah, I’ve just been really swamped with homework and we’ve been having rehearsal for the musical for like six hours a day after school. I’m getting like three hours of sleep a night and it’s making learning this early in the morning really difficult.
Here, Ms. Harris uses the word conducive to describe the relationship between being awake in class and comprehending the material. In this next example, Noah and Lainey are paired together for a class project. They don’t get along.
Noah: I just don’t think that bubble letters on a pink poster board really scream “World War II tragedies.”
Lainey: Well I don’t think that our poster needs to be ugly to be effective. Look… fighting isn’t going to be conducive to making a good project. Can we just call a truce?
Noah: Yeah, I agree.
There are many different words that a person can use in place of the word conducive. These are called synonyms, which are words and phrases that have the same definition as another word or phrase. Synonyms are very useful to know if you want to avoid repeating yourself or if you are looking to expand your vocabulary. This list of synonyms for the word conducive is provided by Thesaurus.
There are also many different words that are considered the opposite of the word conducive. These are known as antonys. Antonyms are also very useful to know if you are trying to expand your knowledge of the English language and build your vocabulary. This list of antonyms for the word conducive is provided by Thesaurus as well.
Overall, the word conducive meaning something that tends to produce something else is used to describe a cause and effect in which one thing is conducive to something else. The word conducive is used to describe things that lead to other things, and can describe things that are helpful or favorable in leading to that result.
