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sterile

 
Dictionary: ster·ile   (stĕr'əl, -īl') pronunciation
 
adj.
  1. Not producing or incapable of producing offspring.
    1. Not producing or incapable of producing seed, fruit spores, or other reproductive structures. Used of plants or their parts.
    2. Producing little or no vegetation; unfruitful: sterile land.
  2. Free from live bacteria or other microorganisms: a sterile operating area; sterile instruments.
  3. Lacking imagination, creativity, or vitality.
  4. Lacking the power to function; not productive or effective; fruitless: a sterile discussion.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sterilis.]

sterilely ster'ile·ly adv.
sterileness ster'ile·ness or ste·ril'i·ty (stə-rĭl'ĭ-tē) n.
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Free from all micro-organisms, bacteria, moulds, and yeasts. When foods are sterilized, as in canning, they are preserved indefinitely, since they are protected from recontamination in the can, and also from enzymic deterioration.

 
Thesaurus: sterile
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adjective

  1. Unable to produce offspring: barren, childless, impotent, infertile, unfruitful. See rich/poor.
  2. Lacking or unable to produce growing plants or crops: barren, infertile, unfruitful, unproductive. See rich/poor.
  3. Free or freed from microorganisms: sanitized, sterilized. See clean/dirty.
  4. Lacking originality: uncreative, unimaginative, uninspired, uninventive, unoriginal. See rich/poor.
  5. Lacking liveliness, charm, or surprise: arid, aseptic, colorless, drab, dry, dull, earthbound, flat, flavorless, lackluster, lifeless, lusterless, matter-of-fact, pedestrian, prosaic, spiritless, stodgy, unimaginative, uninspired. See excite/bore/interest.

 
Antonyms: sterile
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adj

Definition: unproductive; clean
Antonyms: dirty, fertile, fruitful, productive


 
Dental Dictionary: sterile
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adj

Free from viable microorganisms.

 
Veterinary Dictionary: sterility
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The state of being sterile. See also infertility.

  • cryptorchidism s. — see cryptorchidism.
  • hybrids s. — offspring of parents of different species, these animals are usually sterile due to differences between the chromosomes of the two parents.
  • intersex s. — sterility due to chromosomal differences within the patient.
  • nondisjunction s. — sterility due to chromosomal errors.
  • polled goats s. — a small percentage of all genetically female polled goats are sterile due to masculinization.
  • XX male dogs s. — a Y chromosome-dependent character is an obligatory primary component in transforming the indifferent gonad into a testis.
 

  1. A term used to describe a flower without functional sexual parts.
  2. A term used to describe a plant that is unable to produce seeds, often because it is of hybrid ancestry.

A term used to describe soil that has been heated to a temperature high enough to destroy weed seeds or pathogens.

A term used to describe a growing medium that is not contaminated by pathogens.

 
Translations: Sterile
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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - steril, ufrugtbar, gold

Nederlands (Dutch)
steriel, onvruchtbaar

Français (French)
adj. - stérile

Deutsch (German)
adj. - steril, unfruchtbar, fruchtlos

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - άγονος, στείρος, άσηπτος, (μτφ.) άκαρπος, ατελέσφορος

Italiano (Italian)
sterile

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - estéril

Русский (Russian)
бесплодный, неплодородный, безрезультатный, лишенный своеобразия, стерильный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - estéril, antiséptico

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - steril, ofruktsam, ofruktbar

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
贫脊的, 不结果的, 不育的

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 貧脊的, 不結果的, 不育的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 불임의, 생산 못하는, 불모의

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - やせた, 不毛の, 不妊の, 無菌の, 内容に乏しい, 無効の, つまらない

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) عقيم‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮מעוקר, סטרילי, מחוטא, עקר, לא פורייה, סרק, חסר-מעוף‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food and Nutrition. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Gardener's Dictionary. Taylor's Dictionary for Gardeners, by Frances Tenenbaum. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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