ˈsterə̇l, -ˌrīl adjective
Etymology: Latin sterilis; akin to Greek steira sterile, Gothic stairo sterile, Sanskrit starī sterile cow
1.
a. : failing to produce or incapable of producing offspring
a hybrid that is completely sterile
b. : failing to bear or incapable of bearing fruit or spores
a sterile tree
sterile fungous hyphae
c. : incapable of germinating
sterile spores
d. of a flower : lacking a gynecium : neither perfect nor pistillate
e. : having or producing no sori
sterile fern fronds
2. : characterized by deficient fruitfulness : barren: as
a. : deficient in plant life : unproductive of crops or other vegetation
a sterile arid region
an unusually sterile year
b. : deficient in ideas or originality of thought
a sterile author
sterile prose
c. : free from living organisms and especially microorganisms
a sterile cyst
dead sterile soil
— compare sterilize
3. : serving no useful purpose : withheld from a normal use or function
capital kept sterile through lack of initiative
excessive and sterile reserves
Synonyms:
sterile , barren , impotent , unfruitful , infertile mean not having or not manifesting the power to produce offspring or bear fruit, literally or figuratively. sterile implies literal inability, stressing some defect or lack in the reproductive functions; it has a strong figurative use, implying a lack or absence of creative vigor
a sterile woman
a sterile ram
a sterile author
the failure of the three characters to emerge as individuals makes their personal drama seem sterile — American Scholar
for him man is always the wanderer in the oppressive and sterile world of materialism — Alfred Kazin
lies at an elevation of from 500 to 1,500 feet, and consists mainly of saline wastes and other sterile tracts — Encyc. Americana
barren applies especially to a female who has borne no offspring or is incapable of bearing offspring, stressing, literally and figuratively, the lack of issue
a barren woman
a barren soil
nine barren years of marriage — Alice Lake
I am very barren of American news — H.J.Laski
impotent in this sense applies especially to a male lacking the ability to engage in sexual intercourse and so to produce his kind, carrying more generally the implication of inability to act or suggesting some lack of manliness or natural vigor
an impotant man
nothing is quite so impotent in politics as a defeated candidate — W.A.White
drove the choleric old man into a fit of impotent fury — Charles Reade
unfruitful , interchangeable with barren though less forceful and absolute, has a more widespread figurative than literal use
an unfruitful orchard
an unfruitful enterprise
unfruitful negotiations between belligerent states
infertile , a factual and neutral word, carries the sense of sterile , especially in literal application
an infertile marriage
an infertile valley
an infertile line of research