Contextualizebeta

sterile

adj
/ˈstɛɹaɪl/UK/ˈstɛɹəl/US

Etymology

From Middle French stérile, from Latin sterilis (“barren, futile”). See also Ancient Greek στεῖρα (steîra).

  1. derived from sterilis
  2. borrowed from stérile

Definitions

  1. Unable to reproduce (or procreate).

  2. Terse

    Terse; lacking sentiment or emotional stimulation, as in a manner of speaking.

  3. Fruitless, uninspiring, or unproductive.

  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. Germless

      Germless; free from all living or viable microorganisms.

      • a sterile kitchen table

    2. Permanently uninhabitable (as in a planet like Earth) to all life, including even…

      Permanently uninhabitable (as in a planet like Earth) to all life, including even microbes.

    3. Free from dangerous objects, as a zone in an airport that can be only be entered via a…

      Free from dangerous objects, as a zone in an airport that can be only be entered via a security checkpoint.

    4. Of weapons

      Of weapons: foreign-made and untraceable to the United States.

The neighborhood

Derived

anti-sterile-neutrino, intersterile, self-sterile, semisterile, sterilant, sterile antineutrino, sterilely, sterileness, sterile neutrino, sterile oat, steripipette, ultrasterile

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at sterile. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01sterile02terse03fine04angle05sphere06heavens07departed08dead09barren

A definitional loop anchored at sterile. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at sterile

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA