sterile
Americanadjective
-
free from living germs or microorganisms; aseptic.
Successful operations rely on timely delivery of the sterile surgical instruments needed for each procedure.
-
incapable of producing offspring; not producing offspring.
- Synonyms:
- unfruitful, infecund
- Antonyms:
- fertile
-
barren; not producing vegetation.
Attempts to cultivate the land have failed because of the sterile soil.
- Antonyms:
- fertile
-
Botany.
-
noting a plant in which reproductive structures fail to develop.
-
bearing no stamens or pistils.
-
-
not productive of results, ideas, etc.; fruitless.
-
lacking vitality, vibrancy, interest, etc..
Art can transform an otherwise sterile office into a happy, inspiring, and comforting space.
adjective
-
unable to produce offspring; infertile
-
free from living, esp pathogenic, microorganisms; aseptic
-
(of plants or their parts) not producing or bearing seeds, fruit, spores, stamens, or pistils
-
lacking inspiration or vitality; fruitless
-
economics (of gold) not being used to support credit creation or an increased money supply
-
Not able to produce offspring, seeds, or fruit; unable to reproduce.
-
Free from disease-causing microorganisms.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of sterile
First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin sterilis “barren, unfruitful”
Explanation
A sterile person can't have kids, and a sterile environment is bland and boring. In both cases, sterile means lifeless. When you hear about a sterile person, it means they can't have kids: sterile women can't get pregnant, and sterile men can't be fathers. But the concept of sterility applies to things, too. An empty, white room with nothing in it is sterile. And a surgeon's instruments better be sterile — meaning they're free from germs and bacteria.
Vocabulary lists containing sterile
The Handmaid's Tale
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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All Thirteen
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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.
But as the screwworm risk declined, the U.S. closed down most of its sterile fly production facilities.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026
The rooms are polished without feeling sterile, featuring plush beds, large bathrooms and spacious showers.
From Salon • Jun. 11, 2026
Female screwworm flies produce eggs only once in a lifetime, and once they mate with a sterile male fly, they’re done with their reproduction cycle without having any offspring.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 10, 2026
US officials said some four million sterile flies are now being released weekly from the sky, and that some four million more in the pupae stage were being deployed in ground release chambers.
From Barron's • Jun. 6, 2026
A white-noise machine hummed in the corner, and a sterile smell crept up on me.
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
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.
