word choice - unproductive, non-productive and counter productive.

[Bala9008]

As found on theasaurus.reference.com, unproductive is achieving poor results while nonproductive is achieving no results.
Then how is unproductive different from counter productive?
It's wierd since the word "unproductive" logically should mean the same as "non-productive".
Can someone please clarify this.

[KArmine]

Unproductive means not producing very much; not producing good results:
Eg: unproductive land , an unproductive meeting etc.

Nonproductive is failing to produce or yield.
Eg: a nonproductive oil well

Counterproductive means having the opposite effect to the one which was intended.
Eg: increases in taxation would be counterproductive.

[Alan]

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Hi,

You raise an interesting question. I would suggest that 'unproductive' is used mostly in a commercial sense indicating that there is little or no profit or gain. 'Non productive' on the other hand is used more generally and suggests words like 'a waste of time' 'useless' 'pointless' 'negative' and so on when used to describe the way people behave, what they say or what they suggest. 'Counter productive' is again used in a general sense to indicate 'causing disruption' 'creating problems' 'making things worse than they actually are' and so on.

Alan
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[Bala9008]

Thank you, Alan and Karmine.