Word Frequency
sterility (stəˈrɪlətɪ)
Definitions
noun
- (biology) the inability to produce offspring; infertility ⇒
X-rays in high doses can cause sterility.
⇒Mumps can cause male sterility.
⇒The condition can lead to sterility.
- (medicine) the state of being free from living, esp pathogenic, microorganisms; asepsis ⇒
the antiseptic sterility of the hospital
- (botany) the fact of not producing or bearing seeds, fruit, spores, stamens, or pistils
- the fact of lacking inspiration or vitality; fruitlessness ⇒
the sterility of Dorothea's life in industry
sterile (ˈstɛraɪl
)
Definitions
adjective
- unable to produce offspring; infertile
- free from living, esp pathogenic, microorganisms; aseptic
- (of plants or their parts) not producing or bearing seeds, fruit, spores, stamens, or pistils
- lacking inspiration or vitality; fruitless
- (economics, US) (of gold) not being used to support credit creation or an increased money supply
Derived Forms
ˈsterilely adverbsterility (stɛˈrɪlɪtɪ
) noun
) nounWord Origin
C16: from Latin sterilisExample Sentences Including 'sterility'
After so much sterility in the group stage, the tournament is about to get tasty.Times, Sunday Times (2004)
And Neville was sitting looking out over this sterility , a man of bulk and strength, confident and humourless.Moondrop to Murder
Branko the Gypsy messiah, his spiritual son, is also haunted by his own sterility.Independent (1999)
He had chiefly felt previously its dead-end sterility , but he noticed more now the activity around him.Coup d'Etat
He was glad to be breathing the polluted Newtown air from the open car window after the antiseptic sterility of the hospital.In Remembrance of Rose
It offers comforts and certainties that would envied by many thrown into the sterility of late 20th-century society.Misc (1998)
Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako are undergoing treatment for sterility , according to some women's magazines.Misc (1999)
The timeless sterility of the Lewis peatlands was launched on a reign unbroken to this day.The Other British Isles
They see the new sterility technologies as an attack on the age-old rights of farmers to save and store harvested seed.New Scientist (1998)
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