sterile

C2+ Topic:Family & Relationships

US /ˈstɛrəl/ UK /ˈstɛraɪl/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
free from living germs, or unable to produce offspring

Surgeons work only with sterile instruments and gloves.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · free from living germs, or... barren infertilesterilizedasepticunproductive fruitlessgerm-free

Opposites

fertile fecund productive contaminated prolific

Word family

Derived forms sterilelysterility

Related forms sterilize sterility

Etymology

From Latin 'sterilis', barren, unfruitful, from a Proto-Indo-European root '*ster-', stiff, barren.

sterilis Latin *ster- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Family & Relationships

# sterile

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈstɛrəl
**IPA (UK):** ˈstɛraɪl

## Meanings
1. free from living germs, or unable to produce offspring

## Examples
- Surgeons work only with sterile instruments and gloves.

## Synonyms
- barren
- infertile
- sterilized
- aseptic
- unproductive
- fruitless
- germ-free

## Antonyms
- fertile
- fecund
- productive
- contaminated
- prolific

## Derived Forms
- sterilely
- sterility

## Related Forms
- sterilize
- sterility

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sterilis
- Root: *ster-

## Etymology
From Latin 'sterilis', barren, unfruitful, from a Proto-Indo-European root '*ster-', stiff, barren.

## AI Etymology
Sterile is from Latin 'sterilis', barren, unfruitful, from a Proto-Indo-European root '*ster-', stiff, barren. Important recorded forms include sterilis (Latin) and *ster- (Proto-Indo-European). The modern sense is largely compositional, with the historical elements narrowing into a stable English lexical item. In current use it covers free from living germs, or unable to produce offspring. The wider family includes derived forms such as sterilely and sterility and related words such as sterilize and sterility.

## Topics
- Family & Relationships

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sterile

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