Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being sterile.
  • noun Lack of fecundity; barrenness: said of animals or plants.
  • noun Fruitlessness; profitlessness.
  • noun Deficiency in ideas, sentiments, or expression; lack of richness or luxuriance, as in literary style; poverty; baldness; meagerness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or condition of being sterile.
  • noun (Biol.) Quality of being sterile; infecundity; also, the state of being free from germs or spores.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state or quality of being sterile.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (of non-living objects) the state of being free of pathogenic organisms
  • noun the state of being unable to produce offspring; in a woman it is an inability to conceive; in a man it is an inability to impregnate

Etymologies

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Examples

  • He objected especially to what he called the sterility of the logic then currently taught, and pleaded for a reform of the science along lines of broader human interest.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

  • Speaking of equivocation, the chemistry dunnit monopolistic approach has multiple meanings even if its sterility is singular.

    Bradley Monton's Paper criticizing Dover Decision 2009

  • The verdict of our scientists on our resources of soil is that we have established a progressive degradation that will end in sterility '.'.

    Canada and Immigration 1944

  • In short, unplanned exploitation of the renewable natural resources of the Province has gravely reduced their productivity and has established a progressive degradation which will end in sterility unless control measures are adopted.

    Canada and Immigration 1944

  • Typically, Sandow's entire discussion of sterility is cantilevered off a distortion of what

    City Journal 2010

  • Though such a long interval is certainly not to be universally recommended, as it is said that it may result in sterility [preventive measures in themselves never lead to sterility.

    Married Love: or, Love in Marriage 1918

  • This is what is called the sterility of the hybrids between two distinct species.

    Essays 2007

  • Simplifying down to the most precious objects and actions will result in sterility, which is the road to spiritual ruin and mental rigor mortis!

    The Joys of Much Too Much Bonnie Fuller 2006

  • He reproaches his former colleagues with being sterile and shows them that their sterility is the result of their not believing in anything.

    Thus spake Zarathustra; A book for all and none 2001

  • This distinction is important, when the cause of the sterility, which is common to the two cases, has to be considered.

    IX. Hybridism. Distinction between the Sterility of First Crosses and of Hybrids 1909

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