sterilization
Americannoun
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sterilizations
plural
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the act of sterilizing.
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the condition of being sterilized.
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the destruction of all living microorganisms, as pathogenic or saprophytic bacteria, vegetative forms, and spores.
noun
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the act or procedure of sterilizing or making sterile
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the state of being sterile; sterilized condition
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The procedure of destroying all microorganisms in or on a given environment, such as a surgical instrument, in order to prevent the spread of infection. This is usually done by using heat, radiation, or chemical agents.
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Any of various surgical procedures intended to eliminate the capacity to reproduce in humans or animals.
Other Word Forms
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Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sterilization
Vocabulary lists containing sterilization
Microbiology - High School
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Microbiology - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Wolbachia occurs naturally in mosquitoes, and scientists found they could exploit it: if the male carries the bacteria but the female does not, or carries a different strain, sterilization occurs.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service maintains a screwworm pupae sterilization facility in North America and is currently building a new center in southern Texas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
The staffers were also early adopters of telemedicine; the deadly nature of the Ebola virus required intense sterilization of anything that came into contact with a patient.
From Slate ● May 14, 2026
Together, the data showed that long-term hormonal contraception and permanent surgical sterilization are linked to an average lifespan increase of about ten percent.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 16, 2026
Dr. Knipling has pointed out that effective chemical insect sterilization “might easily outdo some of the best of known insecticides.”
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
And several past presidents supported voluntary and compulsory eugenic sterilizations at some point in their careers.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 24, 2023
Female sterilizations rose to 18 that month from just three in July 2021.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2022
Some patients who have been denied sterilizations have turned to therapists like Barbara DeBree, who has a private practice in Helena and writes letters to providers attesting that the patients have thought through their decisions.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2022
“I’ve had more consultations for sterilizations in volume per patient load than I’ve ever had in my career,” Muldrow said Wednesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2022
For a while, it seemed as if the future of eugenic sterilizations in America depended on the foggy impressions of a nurse who had been handed a cranky baby without toys.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
