sterile

Word family

Related topics: Birth

1 MBBABY/HAVE A BABYa person or animal that is sterile cannot produce babies 不能生育的，不育的 SYN infertile OPP fertile

make/render/leave somebody sterile

Radiotherapy has left her permanently sterile.

放射疗法造成她终身不育。

2 CLEANcompletely clean and not containing any bacteria that might cause infection 无菌的，消过毒的

sterile equipment/water/bandages etc

Rinse the eye with sterile water.

用消过毒的水冲洗眼睛。

► see thesaurus at clean

3 BORINGlacking new ideas, interest, or imagination 刻板的，缺乏新意[想象力]的 OPP productive

sterile argument/debate etc

the increasingly sterile debate on political reform

有关政治改革的越来越俗套的辩论

4 a sterile building, room etc is not interesting or attractive and is often very plain 〔建筑、房间等〕呆板的，乏味的

The classrooms are sterile, with no artwork on the walls.

这些教室毫无生气，墙上一张画都没有。

5. TAsterile land cannot be used to grow crops 〔土地〕贫瘠的，不能种庄稼的 SYN barren

—sterility /stəˈrɪləti/ noun [uncountableU]

Examples from the Corpus

sterile• This does not, however, render the question of social origins of state personnel, such as bureaucrats, sterile.• Some women who used the birth control device became sterile.• Susan thought that her illness had made her sterile.• Red Cross officials say they are running short of disinfectant and sterile bandages.• The floors of old-growth forests tend to be fairly sterile because overhead canopies of leaves prevent light from reaching the ground.• There are even sterile controls for the piped music.• During the sterile Eighties, we overdosed on design and killed freedom of expression.• a sterile laboratory• a sterile, meaningless relationship• They are native to dry and sterile regions.• a group of sterile skyscrapers• It lost to a politicized plan, which resulted in the sterile towers and hidden plazas that now mark Bunker Hill.• Giving blood is perfectly safe. All equipment is sterile, used once and thrown away.• In a sterile world casein would be nearly an ideal glue.

sterile equipment/water/bandages etc• Aseptic techniques require sterile equipment. 8.

sterile argument/debate etc• One can debate whether gatherings after Constantinople or after Trent have been ecumenical, but it is a sterile argument.• Legal theory has long been bedevilled by a sterile debate between positivists and natural lawyers.• This threatens to become a sterile debate, but there are ways to make progress.• Roy Hattersley's simultaneous resignation as deputy leader also opens up the increasingly sterile debate on constitutional reform.

Origin sterile

(1400-1500) Latin sterilis

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus