sterile
Americanadjective
-
free from living germs or microorganisms; aseptic.
Successful operations rely on timely delivery of the sterile surgical instruments needed for each procedure.
-
incapable of producing offspring; not producing offspring.
- Synonyms:
- unfruitful, infecund
- Antonyms:
- fertile
-
barren; not producing vegetation.
Attempts to cultivate the land have failed because of the sterile soil.
- Antonyms:
- fertile
-
Botany.
-
noting a plant in which reproductive structures fail to develop.
-
bearing no stamens or pistils.
-
-
not productive of results, ideas, etc.; fruitless.
-
lacking vitality, vibrancy, interest, etc..
Art can transform an otherwise sterile office into a happy, inspiring, and comforting space.
adjective
-
unable to produce offspring; infertile
-
free from living, esp pathogenic, microorganisms; aseptic
-
(of plants or their parts) not producing or bearing seeds, fruit, spores, stamens, or pistils
-
lacking inspiration or vitality; fruitless
-
economics (of gold) not being used to support credit creation or an increased money supply
-
Not able to produce offspring, seeds, or fruit; unable to reproduce.
-
Free from disease-causing microorganisms.
Other Word Forms
- half-sterile adjective
- nonsterile adjective
- nonsterilely adverb
- sterilely adverb
- sterileness noun
- sterility noun
- unsterile adjective
Etymology
Origin of sterile
First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin sterilis “barren, unfruitful”
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.
“Perhaps I cleaned too much. I worry about such things. What if I’ve made the place completely sterile? Shouldn’t a home have a bit of bacteria lying about?”
From Literature
To prevent contamination, ice samples were sealed in sterile bags and transported in frozen conditions back to the laboratory.
From Science Daily
Reality, however, isn’t as sterile as today’s popular fiction.
From Salon
To see only “the West Bank” is to view a sterile geopolitical entity: a narrow strip of land defined by 20th-century skirmishes and modern conflict.
Her sock was hardly sterile, but at least it would soothe the pain and cover the welt.
From Literature
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.
