sterile

sterile

adjective

Definition of STERILE

1

not able to produce fruit or offspring <sterile couples sometimes choose to adopt needy children> <the apple tree turned out to be sterile, never yielding a crop of apples>

Synonyms barren, fruitless, impotent, infertile, unfruitful

Related Words altered, desexed, neutered, sterilized; castrated, emasculated, gelded; spayed; unproductive

Near Antonyms fecund, luxuriant, productive, prolific; enriched, fertilized, rich; impregnated, pregnant; potent; bearing, producing, yielding; blooming, bursting, flourishing, swarming, teeming

Antonyms fat, fertile, fruitful

2

free from filth, infection, or dangers to health <the hospitals in the war-torn city often lack necessary drugs and sterile surgical supplies>

Synonyms aseptic, germfree, hygienic, sterile

Related Words germproof; antibacterial, antibiotic, antiseptic, germicidal, microbicidal; clean, immaculate, pristine, spick-and-span (or spic-and-span), spotless, squeaky-clean, stainless, unsoiled, unstained, unsullied; beneficial, healthful, healthy, restorative, salubrious, salutary, salutiferous, wholesome; pure, taintless, undefiled, unpolluted, untainted; abluted, bleached, cleansed, purified, scrubbed, washed, whitened

Near Antonyms infectious, miasmic, pathogenetic, pathogenic, poisonous, sickening, toxic; bedraggled, besmirched, dingy, dirty, draggled, dusty, filthy, foul, grimy, grubby, grungy, mucky, muddy, nasty, smirched, soiled, sordid, stained, sullied, unclean, uncleanly, unwashed; insalubrious, noxious, unhealthful, unhealthy, unwholesome; defiled, polluted, tainted, unsterilized

Antonyms germy, insanitary, unhygienic, unsanitary, unsterile