sterilize

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To deprive of the ability to procreate.

   • If monogeny is determined exclusively by a cytoplasmic factor, then it is easy to see that the factor will either die out (if it causes arrhenogeny) or will become fixed and thereby sterilize the population (if it causes thelygeny).
2. 2

   To make unable to produce

   To make unable to produce; to make unprofitable.

3. 3

   To kill, deactivate (denature), or destroy (break apart) all living, viable…

   To kill, deactivate (denature), or destroy (break apart) all living, viable microorganisms and spores on a surface, in a fluid, or contained in a compound, such as culture media or a medical product.

   • One machine in which Mr. Taylor takes special pride is a salmon canner, which engulfs a whole salmon, decapitates and decaudates it, skins it, blows out its viscera, cuts it into pieces, deposits them in the can, sterilizes them […]
   • The bottled juice must be heated to a temperature and for a time sufficient to attain a sterilizing temperature at the coolest point, usually the center of the bottle.
4. ›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To render a planet like Earth permanently uninhabitable to all life, including even…

      To render a planet like Earth permanently uninhabitable to all life, including even microbes, causing their complete extinction.

   2. 5

      To redact (a document), removing classified or sensitive material.

      • […] (minus, of course, any information that might identify the agent and other operational personnel), or he might code it or "sterilize" it, and reward the foreign station chief in some other way.

The neighborhood

• synonymsterilize
• neighborsterile
• neighborsterilization
• neighborbirth control
• neighborcastrate
• neighborcastrato
• neighboreunuch
• neighborprocreate
• neighborprocreation
• neighborspay
• neighborcopulate
• neighbordesex
• neighborfix