sterile
UK /ˈstɛɹaɪl/ · US /ˈstɛɹəl/ adjective
- adjective (not comparable) Unable to reproduce (or procreate).
- adjective (figurative) Terse; lacking sentiment or emotional stimulation, as in a manner of speaking.
- adjective (figurative) Fruitless, uninspiring, or unproductive.
- adjective Germless; free from all living or viable microorganisms. “a sterile kitchen table”
- adjective Permanently uninhabitable (as in a planet like Earth) to all life, including even microbes.
- adjective Free from dangerous objects, as a zone in an airport that can be only be entered via a security checkpoint.
- adjective (US, military) Of weapons: foreign-made and untraceable to the United States.
Synonyms
barren infertile fruitless unfertile aseptic unimaginative uninspired uninventive
Antonyms
fertile non-sterile nonsterile unsterile fecund fruitful potent productive
Etymology
From Middle French stérile, from Latin sterilis (“barren, futile”). See also Ancient Greek στεῖρα (steîra).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Producing little or no crop; barren; unfruitful; unproductive; not fertile; as, sterile land; a sterile desert; a sterile year.
- adjective (a) Incapable of reproduction; unfitted for reproduction of offspring; not able to germinate or bear fruit; unfruitful; as, a sterile flower, which bears only stamens.
Etymology [F. stérile, L. sterilis, akin to Gr. stereo`s stiff, solid, stei^ros barren, stei^ra a cow that has not calved, Goth. stairo, fem., barren. See Stare to gaze.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sterile”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details