Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FRUITION

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connect today's word to others: Recently, in a separate issue, we checked out a verb that means "to come to fruition: to grow fruit, to become productive, or to make something else become productive." Could you recall it? It's fr____fy. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "FRUITION" One meaning of "fruit" is "anything good that results from our actions or efforts." Something fruitful is helpful or productive, or it produces good results. And something fruitless is unhelpful or unproductive, or it produces no good results. That brings us to "fruition," which actually comes from a Latin verb meaning "to enjoy." Originally, "fruition" meant "enjoyment, or the happy feeling you get from owning something," but because it looks so much like "fruit," "fruitful," and "fruitless"--despite not actually being related to those words!--it took on the meaning it has today. This one: Fruition is the state of being helpful or productive, or the state of producing good results. Pronunciation: froo WISH un Part of speech: Uncountable noun. (Like "milk," "rice," and "advice," uncountable nouns are words for stuff that can’t be broken into exact units. You talk about "some milk," "the rice," and "a lot of advice," but you don’t say "a milk," "three rices," or "many advices." Likewise, talk about "the fruition," "this fruition," "the project's fruition," "such fruition," "no fruition," and so on, but don’t say "a fruition," "one fruition," or "fruitions.") Other forms: fruit(s); fruitful, fruitfully, fruitfulness; fruitless, fruitlessly, fruitlessness  How to use it: When we use the word "fruition," we're usually talking about plans, projects, ideas, campaigns, visions, and dreams. We say that those things grow to fruition, come to fruition, or reach fruition. Or we say they're in fruition, or they're being brought to fruition. We can also talk about the fruition of something: the fruition of this prediction, the fruition of their hard work, the fruition of our lifelong dream. Let's also look at "fruitful" and "fruitless." Talk about fruitful or fruitless    trips and searches;    times and periods;    talks, discussions, debates, and negotiations;    fields and hunting grounds;    careers;    work, attempts, and efforts;    decisions and changes;    paths, roads, and avenues;    partnerships and associations; etc. examples: They're a dream that never came to fruition: two brick mansions out on Southfork Drive, abandoned, half-finished, nearly window-less, long as football fields, surrounded by pasture and creepiness. "From [a Chinese] point of view, bringing in American firms is a roaring success. A study analysing joint ventures in China in 1998-2007 found that they boosted both the Chinese partner and the industry in which it was active. Ventures with American firms were more fruitful than those with firms from Hong Kong or Japan."    —The Economist, 12 April 2018 study it now: Look away from the screen to define "fruition" without saying "productivity" or "achievement." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "My attempts to _____ proved (fruitful or fruitless): eventually I _____." Example: "My attempts to banish the centipedes proved fruitless: eventually I accepted their presence." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. This month, we're playing "Sleek Slogans." I'll take a familiar slogan from a company or a product, express that slogan in plain language, and tell you the specific qualities the slogan has (like rhyme or alliteration), and then you come up with the real slogan as well as the name of the company or product. From the previous issue: Rewrite this slogan by using rhyme, repetition, and onomatopoeia (words that actually sound like what they mean): "Prepare our product, hear the distinctive sounds it makes, and know that you'll soon feel better." Answer: That's a slogan for Alka-Seltzer: "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is."  Try this one today: Rewrite this slogan by using a play on words, repetition, and parallelism (the use of balanced clauses or phrases): "Use our product to get your shaving done faster and at a lower price." review today's word: 1. Some opposites of FRUITION are FRUITLESSNESS, UNFRUITFULNESS, and A. SOLEMNITY. B. BARRENNESS. C. HOPELESSNESS. 2. _____ brought their dream to fruition this year. A. Some soul-searching and studious research B. Some luck, some hard work, and a small business loan C. A hurricane that forced the relocation of their entire clientele Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. B