1
as in barren
not able to produce fruit or offspring
sterile couples sometimes choose to adopt needy children the apple tree turned out to be sterile, never yielding a crop of apples
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sanitary
free from filth, infection, or dangers to health
the hospitals in the war-torn city often lack necessary drugs and sterile surgical supplies
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Recent Examples of sterile
Recently, 26 previously unknown bacterial species were discovered in NASA clean rooms — some of the most sterile places humanity has built, designed to prevent spacecraft from carrying unwanted microbes to other planetary bodies.
—
Andrew Jones, Space.com, 21 May 2025
Why does every waiting room look like some sterile IKEA?
—Shep Hyken, Forbes.com, 18 May 2025
Of long drives and sterile sheets, trapped in tiny spaces with your thoughts.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 18 May 2025
With a score that includes staccato human voices crying out, Ben moves through the sterile indoor world of a leisure center, often resembling a lonely gunslingers thanks to the Widescreen aspect ratio.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 16 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for sterile
Andrew Jones, Space.com, 21 May 2025
Why does every waiting room look like some sterile IKEA?
—Shep Hyken, Forbes.com, 18 May 2025
Of long drives and sterile sheets, trapped in tiny spaces with your thoughts.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 18 May 2025
With a score that includes staccato human voices crying out, Ben moves through the sterile indoor world of a leisure center, often resembling a lonely gunslingers thanks to the Widescreen aspect ratio.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 16 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for sterile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sterile
Adjective
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The festival was deliberately planned for the barren weeks in June after college students left and before the summer concert and festival season kicked in.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
25 May 2025
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The Bureau’s new research station on Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano, with its high altitude and barren landscape, would prove to be the ideal collection spot.—
Ashley Braun,
Smithsonian Magazine,
19 May 2025
Adjective
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In 2016, when the plight of a high school student who couldn’t afford sanitary pads using a shoe insole instead made national headlines, the city also added a program that gave underprivileged teenage girls cash for female hygiene products.—
Max Kim,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2025
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If a state legislature passes a law requiring its restaurants to maintain safe and sanitary conditions, its members are not sitting around deciding the correct food-storage temperatures.—
Paisley Currah,
New Yorker,
27 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sterile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sterile. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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