1
as in barren
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
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2
as in sanitary
free from filth, infection, or dangers to health
the hospitals in the war-torn city often lack necessary drugs and sterile surgical supplies
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Recent Examples of sterile
Cover it with a sterile bandage to help protect the skin.
—
Aubrey Bailey, Verywell Health, 25 Sep. 2025
As inane and sterile as the marketing was, the actual event wasn’t awful.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 24 Sep. 2025
However, in the 1950s, eradication efforts using sterile male flies and livestock monitoring began to push the fly population southward.
—Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 24 Sep. 2025
The building’s stairwell, visible through the apartment’s open front door, is empty and sterile; by contrast, every crevice of the Lams’ apartment is bustling and full of life.
—Qian Julie Wang, New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sterile
Aubrey Bailey, Verywell Health, 25 Sep. 2025
As inane and sterile as the marketing was, the actual event wasn’t awful.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 24 Sep. 2025
However, in the 1950s, eradication efforts using sterile male flies and livestock monitoring began to push the fly population southward.
—Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 24 Sep. 2025
The building’s stairwell, visible through the apartment’s open front door, is empty and sterile; by contrast, every crevice of the Lams’ apartment is bustling and full of life.
—Qian Julie Wang, New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sterile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sterile
Adjective
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Together with progress made in other areas, such as finding ways of making Mars warm enough to sustain liquid water, restoring barren environments on Earth could be a key to one day living on Mars.—
Chris Impey,
The Conversation,
23 Sep. 2025
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At the time, only a handful of the university’s buildings were completed and the barren campus lacked landscaping.—
Ron Hasse,
Oc Register,
19 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Add these items to your regular cleaning routine to maintain a more sanitary space.—
Mary Cornetta,
Better Homes & Gardens,
24 Sep. 2025
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In other business, sanitary sewer project manager Walter Jaime told the council the city recorded a 6.35-inch rainfall during a rainstorm Aug. 18-19 that led to a sanitary sewage overflow on 25th Avenue, east of Clay Street.—
Carole Carlson,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sterile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sterile. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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