the act or procedure of sterilizing or making sterile
2.
the state of being sterile; sterilized condition
sterilization in American English
(ˌsterələˈzeiʃən)
noun
1.
the act of sterilizing
2.
the condition of being sterilized
3.
the destruction of all living microorganisms, as pathogenic or saprophytic bacteria, vegetative forms, and spores
Word origin
[1870–75; sterile + -ization]This word is first recorded in the period 1870–75. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Victorian, billing, linkage, onshore, upgrade-ization is used to form nouns from verbs ending in -ize (organization). Other words that use the affix -ization include: arborization, cephalization, lateralization, racemization, vaporization
Examples of 'sterilization' in a sentence
sterilization
By 1931, twenty-seven states had sterilization laws on the books.
The Times Literary Supplement (2016)
The goal of suppressing the fecundity of the 'unfit' was further enabled by increasingly survivable forms of surgical sterilization.