Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Sterile"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
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.
3. Fig.: Barren of ideas; destitute of sentiment; as, a
sterile production or author.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
sterile
adj 1: not bearing offspring; "a barren woman"; "learned early in
his marriage that he was sterile" [syn: {barren}]
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:i "a sterile ideology lacking in originality";
"unimaginative development of a musical theme";
"uninspired writing" [syn: {unimaginative}, {uninspired},
{uninventive}]
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