sterile
sterile Lexical Profile
sterile Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Completely free from bacteria, viruses, or other living microorganisms.
"The surgical instruments must be kept in a sterile environment before the operation begins."
Unable to reproduce, conceive offspring, or produce viable seeds or fruit; barren.
"Mules are hybrids of horses and donkeys that are almost always sterile."
Lacking imagination, creativity, warmth, or emotional vitality; yielding no worthwhile result.
"The committee spent hours locked in a sterile debate that resolved none of the core issues."
• Rhymes for sterile
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the 15th century from Old French sterile, from Latin sterilis ('barren, unfruitful'), which is cognate with Ancient Greek steira ('barren woman or cow') and ultimately traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root *ster- ('stiff, barren').