sterileadj.

Brit.

/ˈstɛrʌɪl/,

/ˈstɛrɪl/, U.S.

/ˈstɛrəl/

Forms: Also 1500s steryl(e, -yll, 1500s–1600s stirrill, sterill, 1500s–1800s steril, 1600s sterrile, sterrill, stirrile.

Etymology: < Latin sterilis, cognate with Sanskrit starī, barren cow, Greek στεῖρα barren cow, στέριϕος barren, Gothic stairō feminine adjective, barren. Compare French stérile, Italian sterile, Spanish esteril.

Barren; not producing fruit or offspring.

1. In undetermined sense.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > [adjective]

unbearingc825

deafc897

westyOE

wastumlessc975

wilderna1050

drya1340

gelda1350

barren1377

unfructuousa1382

poora1387

ungreenc1400

infecundc1420

farrow1494

fruitlessa1513

unfruitful1531

sterile1552

hungry1577

penurious1594

unfertile1596

infertile1598

howling1611

ungenitureda1616

arid1656

infecundous1661

ungendering1706

yeld1721

unproductive1725

infructuose1727

ungenerative1733

fallow1791

nihili-parturient1812

dowf1824

wastec1825

non-productive1830

unreproductive1836

infructuous1860

unvintaged1869

increative1877

ablastemic1881

submarginal1895

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Steryll, barayne, or fruiteles, sterilis.

1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Li^v/1 Steril, sterilis.

a. Of soil, a country, occasionally of a period of time: unproductive of vegetation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > [adjective] > producing nothing living

sterile1572

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > soil qualities > [adjective] > infertile

unbearingc825

geasonOE

unkindc1330

barren1377

unfructuousa1382

poora1387

leanc1420

exile?1440

salt1535

unfruitful?1542

sterile1572

dead1577

unlusty1580

queasy1593

heartless1594

unfertile1596

emacerated1610

sapless1655

unprolific1672

uncivil1676

ungrateful1681

worn1681

teemless1687

unproductive1725

poorish1767

ill-conditioned1796

scanty1797

rammelly1808

starve-acre1891

1572 J. Higgins Huloets Dict. (rev. ed.) Sterill, or barrayne grounde, terra ieiuna.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. ii. 115 Like leane, sterile, and bare land.

1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne xv. xv. 269 The sterill coastes of barren Rinoceere They past.

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §525 It is certaine, that in very Sterile Yeares, Corne sowne will grow to an Other Kinde.

a1661 W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 119 This country..now..is so sterile of corn as they are constrained to forsake it.

1785 W. Cowper Task i. 710 With nice incision..She ploughs a brazen field, and clothes a soil So sterile with what charms soe'er she will.

1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 100 No country has a smaller proportion of land absolutely steril and incapable of culture.

1803 Gazetteer Scotl. at Lethendy Owing to the too copious use of marl,..some farms have been rendered perfectly sterile.

1828 W. F. Napier Hist. War Peninsula I. i. iv. 52 Catalonia, the most warlike, rugged, and sterile portion of Spain.

1832 W. Macgillivray Trav. & Researches A. von Humboldt xxv. 376 Causing many places to be improved which would otherwise have remained steril.

1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. i. 2 The novel prospect of an utterly sterile land possesses a grandeur which more vegetation might spoil.

1890 A. C. Swinburne Stud. Prose & Poetry (1894) 223 A ghastly and hardly accessible wilderness of salt marshes, with interludes of sterile meadow and unprofitable vineyard.

b. figurative.

ΚΠ

1720 R. Welton tr. T. Alvares de Andrade Sufferings Son of God II. xxiii. 639 Procure me some few Drops of those Celestial Waters, to bedew this Barren Clay, this Dry and Steril Heart.

1794 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1862) III. 229 Though the times are sterile in some respects, you see they have produced a plentiful crop of peers.

1855 R. Browning Old Pictures in Florence xxxiv Contrast the fructuous and sterile eras.

(a) Producing no offspring; incapable of producing offspring. (Chiefly said of females.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > [adjective]

yelda1100

barrenc1200

geldc1225

untudderya1325

unfruitinga1400

infecundc1420

unfruitfula1425

fruitlessa1513

infertile1598

abortive1601

sterile1612

effete1621

deaf1633

improlifical1646

subventaneous1652

improlifica1661

unprolific1672

unfructifying1827

subfertile1846

agenesic1864

eggless1904

shy1905

radiosterilized1960

[1558¹ [see sterileness n. at Derivatives]. ]

1612 Mr. King tr. Benvenuto Passenger i. ii. 111 The pouder thereof is excellent for all cold infirmities of the head or ioynts, it makes the sterile plentifull.

1741 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 4) at Sterility Women frequently become sterile after a miscarriage.

1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. I. 147 The adult males and sterile females shed their horns in winter.

1878 R. Browning La Saisiaz in La Saisiaz: Two Poets of Croisic 26 Anne of Austria, Twenty-three years long sterile, scarce could look For issue.

1889 J. M. Duncan Clin. Lect. Dis. Women (ed. 4) xxi. 168 A woman may be sterile with this man and fecund with another.

1890 Hardwicke's Sci.-gossip 26 122/2 Sterile workers constitute the vast majority of the commonwealth [of bees].

(b) figurative.

ΚΠ

1659 J. Pearson Expos. Apostles Creed 271 We must not look upon the divine nature as steril, but rather acknowledge and admire the fecundity and communicability of it self, upon which the creation of the world dependeth.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 546 Affirming that..Christians did not..make God a Solitary and Steril Being, before the Creation neither, as the Jews did.

†b. transferred. Producing nothing living. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) xi. lxiv. 277 The sterile Lake where Heauen-fir'd Sodom was.

†c. Causing sterility. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. ii. 11 Our Elders say, The Barren touched in this holy chace, Shake off their sterrile curse.

4. Of a plant: Not bearing fruit.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by poor growth > [adjective] > not fruitful or sterile

barrenc1405

bearless1612

infructuous1615

sterile1626

acarpous1871

ablastous1878

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §620 Those Things, which are knowne to comfort other Plants, did make that more Sterill.

1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 575 In all plantations of this variety a number of sterile plants will be found.

1845 J. Lindley School Bot. (1862) 60 b Potentilla Fragaria (Sterile Strawberry).

a. Mentally or spiritually barren. Also, unproductive of results; fruitless; barren in or of (something sought or desired).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adjective] > lacking emotional sensibility

unfeelingc1000

mis-feelinga1382

stonishc1450

unpainfulc1450

obtuse1509

sprightlessa1522

insensate1553

senseless1560

soulless1568

dull-esprited1591

impassible1592

bluntie1598

impenetrable1600

stockish1600

stolidc1600

incapable1601

stupid1605

tasteless1605

unsensitive1610

unexalted1611

insensible1617

unsensible1619

languid1622

immovable1639

dead-hearted1642

sterile1642

resupine1643

unaffectionate1645

iron-bound1648

resentlessa1649

torpid1656

torpulent1657

impassive1699

unreceptive1722

hebete1743

apathetic1744

stubbed1744

gustless1766

unresponsive1768

unsusceptible1779

tideless-blooded1786

unaffectioned1788

inaccessible1796

hebetudinous1820

unimpressible1828

insensitive1834

apathetical1835

non-sensitive1836

blunt-hearted1845

irreceptive1846

unreceptant1846

unimpressionable1847

anaesthetic1860

insentient1860

hard (also tough, sharp) as nails1862

unsqueamish1893

tone-deaf1894

unget-at-able1897

facty1901

zombie1937

pegamoid1957

the mind > possession > non-possession > [adjective] > devoid of something > lacking or without

wane971

quit?c1225

helpless1362

desolatec1386

wantsomea1400

ungirtc1412

voidc1420

wantinga1475

destitutea1500

unfurnished1541

defect1543

bankrupt1567

frustrate1576

wanting1580

wanting1592

sterile1642

minus1807

lacking1838

to be stuck up for1860

short1873

wanting1874

quits1885

light1936

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [adjective] > useless or unproductive

fruitless1340

unfructuousc1380

unfruitous1382

unfruitfula1400

barren1549

blanka1556

effectless1594

issueless1611

infructuous1615

sterile1642

thorny ground1657

unproductivea1676

infructuose1727

resultless1832

irresultive1850

unresultive1850

unprocreant1851

1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. F7^v Die they again? draw they in any breath? Or be they sterill?

1665 J. Webb Vindic. Stone-Heng (1725) 93 He seems..to be very steril of Invention.

1665 J. Evelyn Let. 20 June in Diary & Corr. (1852) III. 161 For our language is in some places sterile and barren.

1803 W. Godwin Life Chaucer I. Pref. p. x Antiquities have too generally been regarded as the province of men of cold tempers and sterile imaginations.

1848 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy Past & Present I. Introd. p. xxvii Meanwhile, the land was sterile of events.

1849 R. I. Murchison Siluria viii. 183 These deposits..are necessarily sterile in organic remains.

1878 W. S. Jevons Polit. Econ. 97 It has been objected to commerce that it is sterile and produces no new goods.

1879 R. K. Douglas Confucianism iii. 84 Confucius perceived that the..ancients had for their object the worship of the one God, but he allowed this knowledge to remain sterile.

1914 Daily News 23 Oct. 4/2 His adventures in search of victory are uniformly sterile.

b. nonce-use as n. A sterile person.

ΚΠ

1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude 208 Then the heady men, the egotists..the steriles, and the impracticables.

6. Biology.

a. Of an organ or structure that would normally contain reproductive elements: barren, infertile.Said, e.g., in Botany of a flower with only male organs, a stamen without an anther, a seed without an embryo, a frond without sori.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > [adjective] > of an organ

sterile1646

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. vi. 194 This is also a way to separate seeds, whereof such as are corrupted and sterill swim.

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Sicyoides Some of the flowers on this plant are steril, or male-flowers, having no embryo.

1777 S. Robson Brit. Flora 30 Sterile, without antheræ, as in Rupturewort.

1777 S. Robson Brit. Flora 215 Herniaria..five antheræ, five sterile chives.

1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 654/1 Lepals, a term invented to denote stamens that are sterile. It is very rarely used.

1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §649 Flowers having stamens only, are staminiferous, staminal, or sterile.

b. Of cells, etc. not capable of reproduction.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > substance > cell > [adjective] > potency or competence

sterile1856

totipotent1904

multipotential1913

unipotent1913

multipotent1928

competent1932

totipotential1934

1856 W. Clark tr. J. van der Hoeven Handbk. Zool. I. 76 The terminal cells sterile, the axillary oviferous.

1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 306 The fructification of a Fungus consists of..a sterile portion,..and of a fertile portion.

7. Free from micro-organisms. Now often of surgical instruments, etc. = sterilized adj. at sterilize v. Derivatives.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > [adjective]

fairOE

unfiledc1200

purec1300

undefouled13..

unfouledc1380

fresha1393

finec1440

filthless1532

taintless1590

virgin1596

untainted1609

indevirginate?1624

unpolluted1771

germless1869

Diana1870

sterile1877

aseptic1883

pristine1910

1877 J. Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter of Air (1881) 215 The three tubes remained perfectly sterile.

1898 R. T. Hewlett Man. Bacteriol. 98 Blood may be obtained..by pricking the finger..with a sterile needle or lancet.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 550 The diplococcus was present in all except one case, which proved sterile.

1907 M. H. Gordon tr. R. Abel Lab. Handbk. Bacteriol. 160 The finger..is then rubbed with sterile wool soaked in..alcohol and ether.

Compounds

sterile-male n. Biology used attributively to designate the technique of controlling a natural population by releasing large numbers of sterile males into it, so that females that mate only with these do not reproduce.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > balance of nature > population > [adjective] > control of

sterile-male1959

the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > processes > [adjective] > others

superinfected1897

spinal1900

auxanographic1905

turbidimetric1911

pre-experimental1917

superinfecting1918

killed1919

pretreated1925

micrurgical1927

bursectomized1928

ultrafilterable1928

microinjected1938

alloxanic1950

microinjecting1951

superfused1953

sterile-male1959

sham-operated1963

transfected1964

perifused1969

zeugmatographic1973

1955 E. F. Knipling in Jrnl. Econ. Entomol. XLVIII. 459/1 The purpose of this paper is to consider the possibility of controlling insects by releasing sexually sterile males among the existing population.]

1959 Science 9 Oct. 903/1 The possibility of controlling animal populations by the sterile-male method is not necessarily limited to insects.

1975 Nigerian Jrnl. Entomol. 1 181 Because of the ease of preparation, good-keeping quality and reuseability of the [bat's wing] membrane, it..may have a very important role in the control of tsetse flies in Africa by the use of the sterile male technique.

1980 Adv. Vet. Sci. & Compar. Med. XXIV. 166 Screwworm populations subjected to autocidal control by the sterile-male technique.

sterile-wood n. a shrub, Coprosma fœtidissima (N.O. Rubiaceæ), native of New Zealand.

ΚΠ

1874 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. (rev. ed.) Suppl. 1344/1.

Derivatives

ˈsterilely adv.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > [adverb]

barrenly1546

vastly1594

sterilely1886

1886 Howells in Cent. Mag. XXXIII. 191 Many men might go through life harmlessly without realizing this, perhaps, but sterilely.

ˈsterileness n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > [noun]

unkinda1200

barrenhoodc1380

barrennessa1382

geldheada1400

sterility1535

sterileness1558

unfruitfulness1565

infecundity1605

deadness1611

infertility1869

subfertility1917

1558 W. Forrest Hist. Grisild the Second (1875) 54 They laide to good Grysilde her sterylenes, Whiche she cowlde not helpe: God sendeth all increase.

1558 W. Forrest Hist. Grisild the Second (1875) 84 Consernynge the sterylnes layde vnto her.

1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Sterilness, Barrenness.

Draft additions 1993

figurative. Screened or cleared by security forces; spec. of a telephone line, not tapped. Originally U.S.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > [adjective] > making safe > made safe or secure

undertakenc1440

assured1477

secured1600

safetied1923

sterile1973

society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > [adjective] > tapped > not

sterile1973

1973 Newsweek 7 May 88/3 The so-called sterile concourse—the long airport corridor that only ticketed, searched travelers may enter—means that a passenger must be searched each time he changes planes and concourses.

1973 Harper's Mag. Oct. 79/1 A ‘sterile’ telephone in Washington (permitting them to operate without being bugged or observed by rival spies from other government agencies).

1977 R. Ludlum Chancellor MS. xix. 203 Except for our taps his phones are sterile; there is no surveillance on him but our own.

1984 Observer 10 June 3/7 The economic summit..had left large chunks of central London ‘sterile’ these last few days. That is police jargon for any security area out of bounds to the general public. ‘You can't go in there, guv, it's all a sterile area’.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	sterile
释义	sterileadj. Brit. /ˈstɛrʌɪl/, /ˈstɛrɪl/, U.S. /ˈstɛrəl/ Forms: Also 1500s steryl(e, -yll, 1500s–1600s stirrill, sterill, 1500s–1800s steril, 1600s sterrile, sterrill, stirrile. Etymology: < Latin sterilis, cognate with Sanskrit starī, barren cow, Greek στεῖρα barren cow, στέριϕος barren, Gothic stairō feminine adjective, barren. Compare French stérile, Italian sterile, Spanish esteril. Barren; not producing fruit or offspring. 1. In undetermined sense. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > [adjective] unbearingc825 deafc897 westyOE wastumlessc975 wilderna1050 drya1340 gelda1350 barren1377 unfructuousa1382 poora1387 ungreenc1400 infecundc1420 farrow1494 fruitlessa1513 unfruitful1531 sterile1552 hungry1577 penurious1594 unfertile1596 infertile1598 howling1611 ungenitureda1616 arid1656 infecundous1661 ungendering1706 yeld1721 unproductive1725 infructuose1727 ungenerative1733 fallow1791 nihili-parturient1812 dowf1824 wastec1825 non-productive1830 unreproductive1836 infructuous1860 unvintaged1869 increative1877 ablastemic1881 submarginal1895 1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Steryll, barayne, or fruiteles, sterilis. 1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Li^v/1 Steril, sterilis. 2. a. Of soil, a country, occasionally of a period of time: unproductive of vegetation. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > [adjective] > producing nothing living sterile1572 the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > soil qualities > [adjective] > infertile unbearingc825 geasonOE unkindc1330 barren1377 unfructuousa1382 poora1387 leanc1420 exile?1440 salt1535 unfruitful?1542 sterile1572 dead1577 unlusty1580 queasy1593 heartless1594 unfertile1596 emacerated1610 sapless1655 unprolific1672 uncivil1676 ungrateful1681 worn1681 teemless1687 unproductive1725 poorish1767 ill-conditioned1796 scanty1797 rammelly1808 starve-acre1891 1572 J. Higgins Huloets Dict. (rev. ed.) Sterill, or barrayne grounde, terra ieiuna. 1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. ii. 115 Like leane, sterile, and bare land. View more context for this quotation 1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne xv. xv. 269 The sterill coastes of barren Rinoceere They past. 1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §525 It is certaine, that in very Sterile Yeares, Corne sowne will grow to an Other Kinde. a1661 W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 119 This country..now..is so sterile of corn as they are constrained to forsake it. 1785 W. Cowper Task i. 710 With nice incision..She ploughs a brazen field, and clothes a soil So sterile with what charms soe'er she will. 1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 100 No country has a smaller proportion of land absolutely steril and incapable of culture. 1803 Gazetteer Scotl. at Lethendy Owing to the too copious use of marl,..some farms have been rendered perfectly sterile. 1828 W. F. Napier Hist. War Peninsula I. i. iv. 52 Catalonia, the most warlike, rugged, and sterile portion of Spain. 1832 W. Macgillivray Trav. & Researches A. von Humboldt xxv. 376 Causing many places to be improved which would otherwise have remained steril. 1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. i. 2 The novel prospect of an utterly sterile land possesses a grandeur which more vegetation might spoil. 1890 A. C. Swinburne Stud. Prose & Poetry (1894) 223 A ghastly and hardly accessible wilderness of salt marshes, with interludes of sterile meadow and unprofitable vineyard. b. figurative. ΚΠ 1720 R. Welton tr. T. Alvares de Andrade Sufferings Son of God II. xxiii. 639 Procure me some few Drops of those Celestial Waters, to bedew this Barren Clay, this Dry and Steril Heart. 1794 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1862) III. 229 Though the times are sterile in some respects, you see they have produced a plentiful crop of peers. 1855 R. Browning Old Pictures in Florence xxxiv Contrast the fructuous and sterile eras. 3. a. (a) Producing no offspring; incapable of producing offspring. (Chiefly said of females.) ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > [adjective] yelda1100 barrenc1200 geldc1225 untudderya1325 unfruitinga1400 infecundc1420 unfruitfula1425 fruitlessa1513 infertile1598 abortive1601 sterile1612 effete1621 deaf1633 improlifical1646 subventaneous1652 improlifica1661 unprolific1672 unfructifying1827 subfertile1846 agenesic1864 eggless1904 shy1905 radiosterilized1960 [1558¹ [see sterileness n. at Derivatives]. ] 1612 Mr. King tr. Benvenuto Passenger i. ii. 111 The pouder thereof is excellent for all cold infirmities of the head or ioynts, it makes the sterile plentifull. 1741 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 4) at Sterility Women frequently become sterile after a miscarriage. 1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. I. 147 The adult males and sterile females shed their horns in winter. 1878 R. Browning La Saisiaz in La Saisiaz: Two Poets of Croisic 26 Anne of Austria, Twenty-three years long sterile, scarce could look For issue. 1889 J. M. Duncan Clin. Lect. Dis. Women (ed. 4) xxi. 168 A woman may be sterile with this man and fecund with another. 1890 Hardwicke's Sci.-gossip 26 122/2 Sterile workers constitute the vast majority of the commonwealth [of bees]. (b) figurative. ΚΠ 1659 J. Pearson Expos. Apostles Creed 271 We must not look upon the divine nature as steril, but rather acknowledge and admire the fecundity and communicability of it self, upon which the creation of the world dependeth. 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 546 Affirming that..Christians did not..make God a Solitary and Steril Being, before the Creation neither, as the Jews did. †b. transferred. Producing nothing living. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) xi. lxiv. 277 The sterile Lake where Heauen-fir'd Sodom was. †c. Causing sterility. Obsolete. ΚΠ a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. ii. 11 Our Elders say, The Barren touched in this holy chace, Shake off their sterrile curse. View more context for this quotation 4. Of a plant: Not bearing fruit. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by poor growth > [adjective] > not fruitful or sterile barrenc1405 bearless1612 infructuous1615 sterile1626 acarpous1871 ablastous1878 1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §620 Those Things, which are knowne to comfort other Plants, did make that more Sterill. 1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 575 In all plantations of this variety a number of sterile plants will be found. 1845 J. Lindley School Bot. (1862) 60 b Potentilla Fragaria (Sterile Strawberry). 5. a. Mentally or spiritually barren. Also, unproductive of results; fruitless; barren in or of (something sought or desired). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adjective] > lacking emotional sensibility unfeelingc1000 mis-feelinga1382 stonishc1450 unpainfulc1450 obtuse1509 sprightlessa1522 insensate1553 senseless1560 soulless1568 dull-esprited1591 impassible1592 bluntie1598 impenetrable1600 stockish1600 stolidc1600 incapable1601 stupid1605 tasteless1605 unsensitive1610 unexalted1611 insensible1617 unsensible1619 languid1622 immovable1639 dead-hearted1642 sterile1642 resupine1643 unaffectionate1645 iron-bound1648 resentlessa1649 torpid1656 torpulent1657 impassive1699 unreceptive1722 hebete1743 apathetic1744 stubbed1744 gustless1766 unresponsive1768 unsusceptible1779 tideless-blooded1786 unaffectioned1788 inaccessible1796 hebetudinous1820 unimpressible1828 insensitive1834 apathetical1835 non-sensitive1836 blunt-hearted1845 irreceptive1846 unreceptant1846 unimpressionable1847 anaesthetic1860 insentient1860 hard (also tough, sharp) as nails1862 unsqueamish1893 tone-deaf1894 unget-at-able1897 facty1901 zombie1937 pegamoid1957 the mind > possession > non-possession > [adjective] > devoid of something > lacking or without wane971 quit?c1225 helpless1362 desolatec1386 wantsomea1400 ungirtc1412 voidc1420 wantinga1475 destitutea1500 unfurnished1541 defect1543 bankrupt1567 frustrate1576 wanting1580 wanting1592 sterile1642 minus1807 lacking1838 to be stuck up for1860 short1873 wanting1874 quits1885 light1936 the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [adjective] > useless or unproductive fruitless1340 unfructuousc1380 unfruitous1382 unfruitfula1400 barren1549 blanka1556 effectless1594 issueless1611 infructuous1615 sterile1642 thorny ground1657 unproductivea1676 infructuose1727 resultless1832 irresultive1850 unresultive1850 unprocreant1851 1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. F7^v Die they again? draw they in any breath? Or be they sterill? 1665 J. Webb Vindic. Stone-Heng (1725) 93 He seems..to be very steril of Invention. 1665 J. Evelyn Let. 20 June in Diary & Corr. (1852) III. 161 For our language is in some places sterile and barren. 1803 W. Godwin Life Chaucer I. Pref. p. x Antiquities have too generally been regarded as the province of men of cold tempers and sterile imaginations. 1848 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy Past & Present I. Introd. p. xxvii Meanwhile, the land was sterile of events. 1849 R. I. Murchison Siluria viii. 183 These deposits..are necessarily sterile in organic remains. 1878 W. S. Jevons Polit. Econ. 97 It has been objected to commerce that it is sterile and produces no new goods. 1879 R. K. Douglas Confucianism iii. 84 Confucius perceived that the..ancients had for their object the worship of the one God, but he allowed this knowledge to remain sterile. 1914 Daily News 23 Oct. 4/2 His adventures in search of victory are uniformly sterile. b. nonce-use as n. A sterile person. ΚΠ 1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude 208 Then the heady men, the egotists..the steriles, and the impracticables. 6. Biology. a. Of an organ or structure that would normally contain reproductive elements: barren, infertile.Said, e.g., in Botany of a flower with only male organs, a stamen without an anther, a seed without an embryo, a frond without sori. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > [adjective] > of an organ sterile1646 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. vi. 194 This is also a way to separate seeds, whereof such as are corrupted and sterill swim. View more context for this quotation 1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Sicyoides Some of the flowers on this plant are steril, or male-flowers, having no embryo. 1777 S. Robson Brit. Flora 30 Sterile, without antheræ, as in Rupturewort. 1777 S. Robson Brit. Flora 215 Herniaria..five antheræ, five sterile chives. 1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 654/1 Lepals, a term invented to denote stamens that are sterile. It is very rarely used. 1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §649 Flowers having stamens only, are staminiferous, staminal, or sterile. b. Of cells, etc. not capable of reproduction. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > substance > cell > [adjective] > potency or competence sterile1856 totipotent1904 multipotential1913 unipotent1913 multipotent1928 competent1932 totipotential1934 1856 W. Clark tr. J. van der Hoeven Handbk. Zool. I. 76 The terminal cells sterile, the axillary oviferous. 1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 306 The fructification of a Fungus consists of..a sterile portion,..and of a fertile portion. 7. Free from micro-organisms. Now often of surgical instruments, etc. = sterilized adj. at sterilize v. Derivatives. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > [adjective] fairOE unfiledc1200 purec1300 undefouled13.. unfouledc1380 fresha1393 finec1440 filthless1532 taintless1590 virgin1596 untainted1609 indevirginate?1624 unpolluted1771 germless1869 Diana1870 sterile1877 aseptic1883 pristine1910 1877 J. Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter of Air (1881) 215 The three tubes remained perfectly sterile. 1898 R. T. Hewlett Man. Bacteriol. 98 Blood may be obtained..by pricking the finger..with a sterile needle or lancet. 1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 550 The diplococcus was present in all except one case, which proved sterile. 1907 M. H. Gordon tr. R. Abel Lab. Handbk. Bacteriol. 160 The finger..is then rubbed with sterile wool soaked in..alcohol and ether. Compounds sterile-male n. Biology used attributively to designate the technique of controlling a natural population by releasing large numbers of sterile males into it, so that females that mate only with these do not reproduce. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > balance of nature > population > [adjective] > control of sterile-male1959 the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > processes > [adjective] > others superinfected1897 spinal1900 auxanographic1905 turbidimetric1911 pre-experimental1917 superinfecting1918 killed1919 pretreated1925 micrurgical1927 bursectomized1928 ultrafilterable1928 microinjected1938 alloxanic1950 microinjecting1951 superfused1953 sterile-male1959 sham-operated1963 transfected1964 perifused1969 zeugmatographic1973 1955 E. F. Knipling in Jrnl. Econ. Entomol. XLVIII. 459/1 The purpose of this paper is to consider the possibility of controlling insects by releasing sexually sterile males among the existing population.] 1959 Science 9 Oct. 903/1 The possibility of controlling animal populations by the sterile-male method is not necessarily limited to insects. 1975 Nigerian Jrnl. Entomol. 1 181 Because of the ease of preparation, good-keeping quality and reuseability of the [bat's wing] membrane, it..may have a very important role in the control of tsetse flies in Africa by the use of the sterile male technique. 1980 Adv. Vet. Sci. & Compar. Med. XXIV. 166 Screwworm populations subjected to autocidal control by the sterile-male technique. sterile-wood n. a shrub, Coprosma fœtidissima (N.O. Rubiaceæ), native of New Zealand. ΚΠ 1874 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. (rev. ed.) Suppl. 1344/1. Derivatives ˈsterilely adv. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > [adverb] barrenly1546 vastly1594 sterilely1886 1886 Howells in Cent. Mag. XXXIII. 191 Many men might go through life harmlessly without realizing this, perhaps, but sterilely. ˈsterileness n. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > [noun] unkinda1200 barrenhoodc1380 barrennessa1382 geldheada1400 sterility1535 sterileness1558 unfruitfulness1565 infecundity1605 deadness1611 infertility1869 subfertility1917 1558 W. Forrest Hist. Grisild the Second (1875) 54 They laide to good Grysilde her sterylenes, Whiche she cowlde not helpe: God sendeth all increase. 1558 W. Forrest Hist. Grisild the Second (1875) 84 Consernynge the sterylnes layde vnto her. 1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Sterilness, Barrenness. Draft additions 1993 figurative. Screened or cleared by security forces; spec. of a telephone line, not tapped. Originally U.S. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > [adjective] > making safe > made safe or secure undertakenc1440 assured1477 secured1600 safetied1923 sterile1973 society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > [adjective] > tapped > not sterile1973 1973 Newsweek 7 May 88/3 The so-called sterile concourse—the long airport corridor that only ticketed, searched travelers may enter—means that a passenger must be searched each time he changes planes and concourses. 1973 Harper's Mag. Oct. 79/1 A ‘sterile’ telephone in Washington (permitting them to operate without being bugged or observed by rival spies from other government agencies). 1977 R. Ludlum Chancellor MS. xix. 203 Except for our taps his phones are sterile; there is no surveillance on him but our own. 1984 Observer 10 June 3/7 The economic summit..had left large chunks of central London ‘sterile’ these last few days. That is police jargon for any security area out of bounds to the general public. ‘You can't go in there, guv, it's all a sterile area’. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.1552
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