Lexic.us

Definition of Sterile

1. Adjective. Incapable of reproducing. "An infertile couple"

2. Adjective. Free of or using methods to keep free of pathological microorganisms. "Aseptic surgical techniques"

3. Adjective. Deficient in originality or creativity; lacking powers of invention. "Uninspired writing"

Definition of Sterile

1. a. Producing little or no crop; barren; unfruitful; unproductive; not fertile; as, sterile land; a sterile desert; a sterile year.

Definition of Sterile

1. Adjective. (uncomparable) Unable to reproduce (or procreate). ¹

2. Adjective. Unprofitable. ¹

3. Adjective. Germless; free from all living or viable microorganisms. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Sterile

1. incapable of producing offspring [adj]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Sterile

stereoview stereoviews stereovision steres sterhydraulic steric steric hindrance sterical sterically sterigma

sterigmas sterigmata sterigmatum sterilant sterilants sterile (current term) sterilely sterileness sterilisation sterilisations

sterilise sterilised steriliser sterilisers sterilises sterilising sterilities sterility sterilizable sterilizated

Literary usage of Sterile

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown (1913)
"Leaves usually stout, the sterile blade nearly sessile, oblong, with close (often Leaves ... sterile blade distinctly bent over at the tip in the bud, ..."

2. Journal (1897)
"placed in wardrobe, sterile; I placed on floor, sterile; t placed on top of bedstead, sterile; I placed in fold of sofa, growth of diphtheria bacillus ..."

3. Organography of Plants, Especially of the Archegoniata and Spermaphyta by Karl Goebel, Isaac Bayley Balfour (1905)
"The sterile cells are distinguished by their starch- content, whilst the fertile ones contain more proteid, a difference which appears also in Aneura. ..."

4. The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture: A Discussion for the Amateur, and by Liberty Hyde Bailey (1915)
"Cymes rather dense, with almost all fls. sterile, changing from pink or pale lilac to dark red. ... A form with all the fls. sterile; sepals broadly oval, ..."

5. The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication by Charles Darwin (1890)
"On the other hand, species when crossed, and their hybrid offspring, are almost invariably in some degree sterile ; and here there seems to exist a broad ..."

6. The Origin of a Land Flora: A Theory Based Upon the Facts of Alternation by Frederick Orpen Bower (1908)
"There is usually a sterile region at the base of the plant: this is followed by the well-known alternating sterile and fertile zones, the length of which ..."

7. Medical Record by George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Joseph Meredith Toner Collection (Library of Congress) (1902)
"The surrounding area of skin, clothing and table is also covered in every direction with sterile material, which should be moist, in order that it may not ..."

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