Staying up late to study was ____ because she fell asleep during the exam.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
... Otherwise it is (or will be) hard to avoid a ____ situation.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Italic *kom
Proto-Italic *kom-
Proto-Indo-European *-teros
Proto-Italic *-teros
Proto-Italic *komterosder.
Proto-Italic *komterād
Latin contrāder.
Old French contre-
Anglo-Norman countre-bor.
Middle English counter-
English counter-
Proto-Indo-European *per-der.?
Proto-Indo-European *per-der.?
Proto-Indo-European *pér
Proto-Indo-European *-o
Proto-Indo-European *pró
Proto-Indo-European *pro-
Proto-Italic *pro-
Late Latin prō-
Proto-Indo-European *dewk-
Proto-Indo-European *déwkti
Proto-Italic *doukō
Late Latin dūcō
Late Latin prōdūcō
Proto-Indo-European *-wós
Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder.
Late Latin -īvus
Late Latin prōductīvusbor.
English productive
English counterproductive
From counter- + productive.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The curse has been Spanish ineptitude feeding Gibraltarian intransigence. Border hold-ups are counterproductive to winning hearts and minds, as were blundering Argentinian landings on the outer Falklands."
— 2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, “Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2021:
"It's most likely that these kinds of cuts to service frequencies, train formations, and service start and finish times would cost more in revenue than they save in cost and would therefore be counterproductive."
— 2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 25: