Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not producing or incapable of producing offspring.
- adj. Not producing or incapable of producing seed, fruit spores, or other reproductive structures. Used of plants or their parts.
- adj. Producing little or no vegetation; unfruitful: sterile land.
- adj. Free from live bacteria or other microorganisms: a sterile operating area; sterile instruments.
- adj. Lacking imagination, creativity, or vitality.
- adj. Lacking the power to function; not productive or effective; fruitless: a sterile discussion.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Unfruitful; unproductive; not fertile.
- Barren; not reproducing its kind.
- In botany, of a flower, producing only stamens—that is, staminate or male (compare neutral); of a stamen, having no anther, or a functionless one; of an anther, without pollen; of an ovary, without perfect seeds; of a seed, without an embryo; of a frond, without sori. See cuts under Onoclea, Ophioglossum, sassafras, and smoke-tree.
- Free from living germs.
- Leading to no results; fruitless; profitless; useless.
- Lacking richness of thought or expression; bald; bare: as, a sterile style; sterile verse.
Wiktionary
- adj. not comparable Unable to reproduce (or procreate).
- adj. Unprofitable.
- adj. Germless; free from all living or viable microorganisms.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Producing little or no crop; barren; unfruitful; unproductive; not fertile.
- adj. Incapable of reproduction; unfitted for reproduction of offspring; not able to germinate or bear fruit; unfruitful.
- adj. Free from reproductive spores or germs.
- adj. Fig.: Barren of ideas; destitute of sentiment.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. free of or using methods to keep free of pathological microorganisms
- adj. deficient in originality or creativity; lacking powers of invention
- adj. incapable of reproducing
Etymologies
- From Latin sterilis ("barren, futile"). See also Ancient Greek στεῖρα (steira). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sterilis. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“For starters, he's put off by what he calls the sterile look of modern evangelical churches.”
“It feels sterile to me but sterile is better in my view than some crime-ridden shithole.”
“His hands touched the tools, glanced off the handle of a modified bone-saw that lay with its harsh circular blade submerged in sterile solution.”
365 tomorrows » 2009 » September : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“I agree with the first name basis – many companies foister this as a way of making people feel they are part of the “Team” – but too often business relationships remain sterile first name or not.”
“Unlike the market-driven art featured in sterile, white box galleries, the work of Tokodi is meant to be touched, felt, and in turn touch you in the playful ways that her animated installations call to mind a more familiar, environmentally friendly state in the barren patches of urban existence.”
“Burn victims, isolated in sterile rooms, later wincing in therapy as they learn to use their hands again, working through the pain.”
“Loosely wrap the areas in sterile bandages and reach medical help.”
“Great posts and, yes, RSS feeds are largely sterile from a community standpoint.”
“An all-but-irrelevant General Assembly usually engaged in sterile debate, wasting time, passing pointless resolutions on an agenda that just doesn't relate to the problems of the millions of real people with urgent needs thousands of miles away from the comforts of the General Assembly and New York City.”
“After cooking time ends, let the can cool before opening and empty contents in sterile jar.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sterile’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Beer and Brewing
Words about beer and the making of it.
airlock, bung, carboy, diversol, hops, mashtun, beer, sparge, trub, wort, malt, malt liquor and 184 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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worda
presumptuous, sanitize, sterile, drowsy, regicide, predilection, minutia, lascivious, hagiography, porous, pusillanimous, punctillious and 6 more...
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March 2012
panache, evanescent, erogenous, vestibule, malfeasance, lacuna, blithering, incubate, breech, tabernacle, pearly, upholstery and 79 more...
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words about piercings
needles, metal, piercing, tongue, surface, nape, ears, mouth, industrial, nose, tragus, webbing and 11 more...
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Sarah's words
adept, pedagogic, pedagogy, discerning, genuine, articulate, collaboration, enterprise, sterile, asunder, prudent, imprudent and 19 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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tomax's Words
legerdemain, yayo, extravasation, wont, faze, coxswain, concomitant, enclave, unguent, rhabdomyolysis, effluent, puerile and 432 more...
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Let's talk about sex
A collection of words about doing the nasty.
prurient, odalisque, soubrette, gravid, lochia, xenogamy, syngamy, zygote, pintle, hexaploid, seminal, hetaera and 232 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2263 more...
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oneasterism's words
Words that I like, that I don't use often enough, that are new to me, that friends and family have taught me, and so on.
lugubrious, reticent, eschelon, missive, penchant, copious, conspicuous, tranquil, redolent, asinine, inane, dilatory and 625 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Important Concepts I Learned from Wat...
mudhen, bowel resection, tracheotomy, shrapnel, brassiere, pinko, peace talks, salami, lebanese, section 8, hot lips, frank burns eats ... and 74 more...
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Words I love
Just a collection of words I love.
insipidity, insipid, vapid, banal, holly, enchiridion, hazel, sterile, iota, onus, mete, veer and 10 more...
Tweets
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