Entry Word: sterile

Function: adjective

Meaning: 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, impotent, infertile, unfruitful

Related Words altered, desexed, neutered, sterilized; castrated, emasculated, gelded; spayed; fruitless, 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 surgeon dropped his scalpel on the floor, and the nurse replaced it with a sterile one> — see sanitary