sterile

Meaning

Adjective

• Unable to reproduce (or procreate).
• Terse; lacking sentiment or emotional stimulation, as in a manner of speaking.
• Fruitless, uninspiring, or unproductive.
• Germless; free from all living or viable microorganisms.
• Free from dangerous objects, as a zone in an airport that can be only be entered via a security checkpoint.
• Of weapons: foreign-made and untraceable to the United States.

Related

Similar words

• barren, infertile

Opposite words

• non-sterile, nonsterile
• unsterile

Origin

• From Middle French stérile, from Latin sterilis ("barren, futile"). See also Ancient Greek στεῖρα.