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Webster 1913 Edition
Sterilize
Ster′il-ize
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Sterilized
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Sterilizing
.] [Cf. F.
stériliser
.] 1.
To make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility.
[R.]
“Sterilizing the earth.” Woodward.
Webster 1828 Edition
Sterilize
STERILIZE
, v.t.1.
To make barren; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility; as, to sterilize soil or land. [Little used.]2.
To deprive of fecundity, or the power of producing young. [Little used.]Definition 2024
sterilize
sterilize
English
Alternative forms
- sterilise (UK)
Verb
sterilize (third-person singular simple present sterilizes, present participle sterilizing, simple past and past participle sterilized)
- To deprive a male or female the ability to procreate.
- To make unable to produce. To make unprofitable.
- (biology) To kill, deactivate (denature), or destroy (break apart) all living, viable microorganisms and spores that would be on a surface, in a fluid, or contained in a compound, such as culture media or a medical product.
Related terms
Translations
disable ability to procreate
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make unable to produce; make unprofitable
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(biology) To destroy all spores or germs
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See also
References
- sterilize in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913