Sterile
['steraɪl] or ['stɛrəl]
Definition
(adj.) deficient in originality or creativity; lacking powers of invention; 'a sterile ideology lacking in originality'; 'unimaginative development of a musical theme'; 'uninspired writing' .
(adj.) incapable of reproducing; 'an infertile couple' .
Edited by Carlos--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Producing little or no crop; barren; unfruitful; unproductive; not fertile; as, sterile land; a sterile desert; a sterile year.
(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.
(a.) Free from reproductive spores or germs; as, a sterile fluid.
(a.) Fig.: Barren of ideas; destitute of sentiment; as, a sterile production or author.
Checked by Kathy
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Barren, unfruitful, fruitless, unproductive, unprolific, infecund, addle, ACARPOUS, jejune, poor.
Inputed by Brenda
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Barren, unfruitful, unproductive, desert, infertile
ANT:Fruitful, fertile, productive, luxuriant, exuberant, cultivated
Inputed by Adeline
Definition
adj. unfruitful: barren: (bot.) producing no pistil or no spores: destitute of ideas or sentiment.—n. Sterilisā′tion act of sterilising.—v.t. Ster′ilise to cause to be fruitless: to destroy bacteria or other micro-organisms in.—ns. Ster′iliser anything which sterilises; Steril′ity quality of being sterile: unfruitfulness barrenness in regard to reproduction.
Edited by Arnold
Examples
- The bitter waters of life surged high about him, their sterile taste was on his lips. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- The subject well deserves to be discussed at great length, but I will here take only a single case, that of working or sterile ants. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- As soon as government begins to supply services, it is turning away from the sterile tyranny of the taboo. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Many exotic plants have pollen utterly worthless, in the same condition as in the most sterile hybrids. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- That is why their issues are so sterile; that is why the absorption in next steps is a diversion from statesmanship. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In a strangely indifferent, sterile way, he was frightened. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Assuredly, this stall of Silas Wegg's was the hardest little stall of all the sterile little stalls in London. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- My present feelings are so mingled with the past, that I cannot say whether the knowledge of this change visited us, as we stood on this sterile spot. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- First crosses between forms, sufficiently distinct to be ranked as species, and their hybrids, are very generally, but not universally, sterile. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
Edited by Arnold