sterilize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to destroy microorganisms in or on, usually by bringing to a high temperature with steam, dry heat, or boiling liquid.
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to destroy the ability of (a person or animal) to reproduce by removing the sexual organs or inhibiting their functions.
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to make (land) barren or unproductive.
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Informal. to delete or remove anything comprising or damaging from.
to sterilize a government document before releasing it to the press.
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Informal. to isolate or completely protect from unwanted, unauthorized, or unwholesome activities, attitudes, influences, etc..
You can't sterilize children against violence.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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sterilizabilitynoun
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sterilizernoun
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presterilizeverb (used with object)
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resterilizeverb (used with object)
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self-sterilizedadjective
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sterilizableadjective
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unsterilizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sterilizesimple
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sterilizessimple
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have sterilizedperfect
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has sterilizedperfect
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am sterilizingprogressive
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are sterilizingprogressive
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is sterilizingprogressive
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have been sterilizingperfect progressive
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has been sterilizingperfect progressive
Past
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sterilizedsimple
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had sterilizedperfect
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was sterilizingprogressive
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were sterilizingprogressive
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had been sterilizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sterilize
Explanation
When you sterilize something, you make it completely clean and free from any contaminant. It's important to sterilize tools, hands, and furniture in hospitals so germs don't get spread between patients. People who make their own jam and pickles need to sterilize the jars first, and when you feed a tiny baby it's important to sterilize the bottles. Whenever you need to make sure something is as clean as possible, you should sterilize it. The earliest meaning of sterilize is still in use, too: to "make infertile," or to make it impossible for an organism to reproduce or have a baby.
Vocabulary lists containing sterilize
Everything, Everything
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Z for Zachariah
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This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for January 16–22, 2021
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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:
We press that mash, sterilize it by heating, bottle it and ship it out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Hospitals use it to sterilize medical devices, and some municipalities use low levels to treat public water supplies.
From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2025
San Bernardino County officials have made new deals with a local nonprofit to help sterilize and relocate wild donkeys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2025
We cannot even think much about how to sterilize water before drinking it, because there is no cooking gas and no wood to light a fire.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2024
“First we will clean and sterilize the wound.”
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Before the male mosquitoes are released, an X-ray machine sterilizes them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
This innovative technology sterilizes the crops, promoting plant growth without the use of chemical fertilizers.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 27, 2024
Circulating at 380 degrees, this steam not only heats the buildings, saving the cost of bulky on-site boilers, but also sterilizes the hospitals’ surgical instruments.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2019
Disease should not be a problem because the roiling lye sterilizes the organic material, says Joe Wilson, CEO of Bio-Response Solutions.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 7, 2017
If brain-work attracts, develops and sterilizes the best gemmules, the ultimate effect of education on the intellect of posterity may differ from its immediate effect.
From Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited? An Examination of the View Held by Spencer and Darwin by Ball, W. P. (William Platt)
The agency also spearheaded the construction of fly-sterilization plants in Texas, which are designed to release sterilized New World screwworm flies into the wild and mitigate reproduction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
That means the fish aren’t sterilized by cooking before they are packaged and sealed.
From Salon ● May 28, 2026
Another group of eight aging mice served as controls and received sterilized fecal material instead.
From Science Daily ● May 9, 2026
A handful of deer in Avalon, Catalina’s only city, will be sterilized and allowed to live out their days on the island.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
MacHarg’s men set big casks of this sterilized water throughout the park and replenished them every day.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
The most effective strategy involved sterilizing about 22% of adult female koalas each year in areas with the highest population densities rather than applying the approach across the entire region.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 8, 2026
She’s grateful that she had already secured a second job sterilizing medical equipment for 3,000 pesos a month at a nearby clinic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
She chased away fishermen and was sued for sterilizing a neighbor’s goat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2025
Because when doctors and dentists practiced universal precautions—like wearing gloves and properly sterilizing their equipment—there was almost no risk of HIV transmission.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2025
“The cost of sterilizing them would be prohibitive,” Fowler added.
From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore
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.
