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
San Bernardino County officials approved new deals in April with a local nonprofit to help sterilize and relocate many of the pint-size equines to sanctuaries.
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
An experimental program seeks to protect California almond trees from a pesky moth by using X-rays to sterilize the insects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2024
No way was she using the weed digger unless she could sterilize it.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
The lab sterilizes about 750,000 bugs per day, then chills the moths to put them to sleep and ships them off to California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 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
The heart of each hospital is the power plant, which sterilizes the water, runs the electric lights, and works the X-ray generator.
From A Volunteer Poilu by Beston, Henry
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
Another group of eight aging mice served as controls and received sterilized fecal material instead.
From Science Daily ● May 9, 2026
Since 2017, the Department of Fish and Wildlife has removed 7,841 nutrias by trapping them or releasing other sterilized nutria back into the wild with tracking devices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
One theory was that a specific piece of equipment—a drill that Acer used on all the patients—wasn’t properly sterilized.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2025
The hoosh pot was cleaned and scoured, filled with ice to melt, and once the water was boiling, the surgical instruments were sterilized.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
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
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
Since 2020, we learned new things about sterilizing immunity, immune memory, and other details of viral infections at a stunning level of detail.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2025
Mary turned on the sterilizing system and watched from outside as her cubicle filled with hot steam to kill anything that might damage the cells.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
