Sterile

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sterile \Ster"ile\, a. [F. st['e]rile, L. sterilis, akin to Gr.
     stereo`s stiff, solid, stei^ros barren, stei^ra a cow that
     has not calved, Goth. stair[=o], fem., barren. See {Stare} to
     gaze.]
     1. Producing little or no crop; barren; unfruitful;
        unproductive; not fertile; as, sterile land; a sterile


        desert; a sterile year.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Biol.)
        (a) Incapable of reproduction; unfitted for reproduction
            of offspring; not able to germinate or bear fruit;
            unfruitful; as, a sterile flower, which bears only
            stamens.
        (b) Free from reproductive spores or germs; as, a sterile
            fluid.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Fig.: Barren of ideas; destitute of sentiment; as, a
        sterile production or author.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sterile
       adj 1: incapable of reproducing; "an infertile couple" [syn: {unfertile},
               {infertile}] [ant: {fertile}]
       2: free of or using methods to keep free of pathological
          microorganisms; "a sterile operating area"; "aseptic
          surgical instruments"; "aseptic surgical techniques" [syn:
           {aseptic}]
       3: deficient in originality or creativity; lacking powers of
          invention; "a sterile ideology lacking in originality";
          "unimaginative development of a musical theme";
          "uninspired writing" [syn: {unimaginative}, {uninspired},
          {uninventive}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  137 Moby Thesaurus words for "sterile":
     abortive, acarpous, antiseptic, arid, aseptic, bare, barren, blah,
     blank, bloodless, boiled, bootless, celibate, characterless,
     childless, cold, colorless, counterproductive, dead,
     decontaminated, desert, desolate, disinfected, dismal, draggy,
     drained, drearisome, dreary, dried-up, dry, dryasdust, dull, dusty,
     effete, elephantine, empty, etiolated, exhausted, fade, fallow,
     fatuitous, fatuous, feckless, flat, fruitless, futile, gainless,
     gaunt, gelded, heavy, ho-hum, hollow, hygienic, impotent,
     inadequate, inane, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious,
     inexcitable, infecund, infertile, inoperative, insipid, invalid,
     issueless, jejune, leached, leaden, lifeless, low-spirited,
     menopausal, noncreative, nonfertile, nonproducing, nonproductive,
     nonprolific, nonremunerative, nugacious, nugatory, of no force,
     otiose, pale, pallid, pasteurized, pedestrian, plodding, pointless,
     poky, ponderous, profitless, prophylactic, pure, rewardless,
     sanitary, sine prole, slow, solemn, spiritless, stale, sterilized,
     stiff, stodgy, stuffy, sucked dry, superficial, tasteless, tedious,
     teemless, unavailing, uncontaminated, uncreative, uncultivated,
     unfertile, unfruitful, uninfected, uninspired, uninventive,
     unlively, unplowed, unpolluted, unproductive, unprofitable,
     unprolific, unremunerative, unrewarding, unsown, untilled, useless,
     vain, vapid, virgin, waste, wasted, without issue, wooden,
     worn-out