sanitary

[san-i-ter-ee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sanitary ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of or relating to health or the conditions affecting health, especially with reference to cleanliness, precautions against disease, etc.

favorable to health; free from dirt, bacteria, etc.: a sanitary washroom.

providing healthy cleanliness: a sanitary wrapper on all sandwiches.

Origin of sanitary

1835–45; < Latin sānit(ās) health (see sanity) + -ary

Related formssan·i·tar·i·ly, adverbsan·i·tar·i·ness, nounpre·san·i·tar·y, adjective

Synonyms for sanitary

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sanitary ON THESAURUS.COM

1, 2. clean, germ-free, unpolluted, antiseptic. Sanitary, hygienic agree in being concerned with health. Sanitary refers more especially to conditions affecting health or measures for guarding against infection or disease: to insure sanitary conditions in preparing food. Hygienic is applied to whatever concerns the care of the body and the promotion of health: to live in hygienic surroundings with plenty of fresh air. 2. healthy, salutary.

Antonyms for sanitary

1, 2. unclean, unwholesome; unhealthy, polluted, septic.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sanitary

healthful, healthy, hygienic, prophylactic, salubrious, sterile, unsullied, wholesome, purified, sanative, uncontaminated, uninfected, unpolluted

Examples from the Web for sanitary

Contemporary Examples of sanitary

He crosses the street and begins sweeping in front of the Sanitary Bedding Company.
Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis
Stanley Booth
June 7, 2014
When FLOs purchase a toilet, they agree to keep it well-stocked with sanitary products like toilet paper and soap.
Toilet Made for Densely Populated Settlements Turns Waste Into Dollars
Mike Miesen
April 5, 2014
Sanitary operations alone required 7,400 Port-a-Potties that collected the equivalent of three Olympic-size pools of pee.
Rio's Unprecedented New Surveillance System
Julie Ruvolo
October 15, 2011
But that's the Jersey Shore cast way—always keeping it classy and sanitary.
9 Great Jersey Shore Moments
Sujay Kumar, The Daily Beast Video
July 28, 2010
No implausible publication with “interpolated essays on the virtues of sanitary improvement” is beyond his sight.
The Best of Brit Lit
Peter Stothard
August 20, 2009

Historical Examples of sanitary

Take the case of a doctor who devotes himself to sanitary science.
The Stark Munro Letters
J. Stark Munro
Sanitary restrictions, seemingly so necessary in hot climates, were unheard of.
The Negro Farmer
Carl Kelsey
The Sanitary Commission I preside over is not in favour with the populace.
Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
Joseph Conrad
Our law-makers control the sanitary conditions and pay of teachers.
The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV
Various
It is possible that this rule may have had its origin in a sanitary precaution.
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India
R. V. Russell

British Dictionary definitions for sanitary

sanitary

adjective

of or relating to health and measures for the protection of health

conducive to or promoting health; free from dirt, germs, etc; hygienic

Derived Formssanitarily, adverbsanitariness, noun

Word Origin for sanitary

C19: from French sanitaire, from Latin sānitās health

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sanitary

adj.

1823, "pertaining to health," from French sanitaire (1812), from Latin sanitas "health," from sanus "healthy; sane" (see sane). In reference to menstrual pads, first attested 1881 (in sanitary towel).

sanitary in Medicine

sanitary

[săn′ĭ-tĕr′ē]

adj.

Of or relating to health.

Free from elements, such as filth or pathogens, that endanger health; hygienic.