sterilize
verb (used with object)
to destroy microorganisms in or on, usually by bringing to a high temperature with steam, dry heat, or boiling liquid.
sterilizes
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present tense formof sterilize (3rd person singular).present tense
Used to describe things happening now or regularly.
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.
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
"It wipes out the bacteria -- sterilizes the culture with a single dose of light. And then when you look at what occurs with electron microscopy, you see the collapse of the chromosome."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2023
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
It sterilizes and partly unsexes them and in the end completely so.
From The Fertility of the Unfit by Rutherford Waddell
