How to use sterile in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective
Sterile means unable to reproduce (or procreate). Example: “In discussing alternatives to the polar extremes, Professor Nguyen mentioned two poles of a filthy floor versus a sterile surgical site.”
Examples of sterile by meaning
adjectiveGermless; free from all living or viable microorganisms.
- a sterile kitchen table
adjectiveOf weapons: foreign-made and untraceable to the United States.
- Some of the guns would also, it was reasoned, be useful as "sterile" weapons (foreign-made and untraceable to the United States) to be provided secretly to foreign friends.1980, Russell Warren Howe, Weapons: The International Game of Arms, Money and Diplomacy
More sentences with sterile
- In discussing alternatives to the polar extremes, Professor Nguyen mentioned two poles of a filthy floor versus a sterile surgical site.From the entry pole
- In teleosts, double haploids (DHs) induced by mitogynogenesis are often sterile.2015 November 19, “Gonadal Transcriptome Analysis in Sterile Double Haploid Japanese Flounder”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry haploid
- Use a sterile 'neuropin' and randomly alternate between the blunt and sharp ends.2009, Ciaran Scott Hill, The Pocket Examiner: A quick medical reference guide for use on the ward. From the entry neuropin
- Ask her to hold a sterile dressing or a clean, nonfluffy pad over the affected eye.2004, Jon R Krohmer, American College of Emergency Physicians first aid manual. From the entry nonfluffy
- I'm hoping xbreeding with the mauve wonder will create a sterile mutation.2002 November 22, chaosisrael, “You people”, in alt.slack (Usenet), retrieved 20 May 2022. From the entry xbreed
- When you are dealing with catheters, enemas, needles, etc. you need sterile safe equipment and experience.2001 July 9, Nanette, “Twat? NO! He's a double twat - read on.....”, in free.uk.talk.cheltenham (Usenet). From the entry medfet
- Drying hands with sterile towels or drapes is usually necessary before donning surgical gloves.1996, Manfred L. Rotter, “Hand Washing and Hand Disinfection”, in C. Glen Mayhall, editor, Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control…. From the entry hand wash
- Except for five women who are sterile, the rest each have three, four, or even five children.1989 December, Shulin Deng, “Sound the Alarm on Population Growth”, in Current World Leaders, volume 32, number 8, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1038. From the entry Xin'an
- A streamful of sterile slime is before you and an arid plain behind you.1986, The Literary Half-yearly - Volumes 27-29. From the entry streamful
- Our soils have been made sterile over many areas from pesticides, which have been really omnicides.1965, Nature Study, volumes 19–23, Morehead, Ky.: American Nature Study Society, →ISSN, →OCLC. From the entry omnicide
- The incorporation of military and factory iconography is another hallmark of DORFic, often balanced with sterile scientific gear.2020s, Unattributed, “DORFic revival”, in frutiger-aero.org, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2026. From the entry DORFic
- In fact, the unfortunate female is rendered sterile.2019 January 27, Tanya Loos, “Unravelling the Secrets of Satyrisation”, in Cosmos: The Science of Everything, Adelaide, S.A.: Royal…. From the entry satyrization
- Briefly, abattoir-derived ovaries from cows and heifers were collected and transported in thermocontainers in sterile saline at about 33°C.2016 January 30, “Characterization of SCF-Complex during Bovine Preimplantation Development”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry thermocontainers
- The result was a tidy, law-abiding country, but one that visitors often described as regimented, sterile and dull.2015 March 22, Washington Post, Lee Kuan Yew, who led Singapore into prosperity over 30-year rule, dies at 91. From the entry regiment
- The manufacturer-provided buffer was discarded and sterile PBS was used and then added to the macrofoam sponge component of the BiSKit.2015 August 15, “Cleanroom Maintenance Significantly Reduces Abundance but Not Diversity of Indoor Microbiomes”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry macrofoam
- I couldn't stand the sterile marriedness of it.2011, Lily King, Father of the Rain, page 140. From the entry marriedness
- One critical distinction to make is whether a focal corneal infiltrate is infected with bacteria or is a sterile immunologic response.2008, Jimmy D. Bartlett, Siret D. Jaanus, Clinical Ocular Pharmacology, page 539. From the entry infiltrate
- The mycelium was treated with a sterile micropestle or biovortexer (Roth, Karlsruhe, Germany) for about 1 to 2 min.2005 August 1, Gabriele Berg gabriele, Christin Zachow, Jana Lottmann, Monika Götz, Rodrigo Costa, Kornelia Smalla, “Impact of Plant…. From the entry biovortexer
- After 2 days incubation at 22°C, sterile 3% cemulsol NP12 (Rhone-Polenc) is added to 0.3% to kill all nonspores.1987, Dictyostelium Discoideum: Molecular Approaches to Cell Biology, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 443. From the entry nonspore
- Such evaluation, abstracted from historical necessity, was in Hegel's opinion a symptom of the sterile recalcitrance of Fichte and the Romantics.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon…. From the entry recalcitrance
- This may have been an accubitum with magical qualities of procreation for sterile husbands who slept on this stone.1967, Georges Pillement, Unknown Portugal. From the entry accubitum
- The hymenium is a more-or-less thickening euhymenium or a catahymenium, often with associated sterile hyphidia, cystidia, gloeocystidia, setae or gloeovessels.1965, C. G. Ainsworth, Frederick K[roeber] Sparrow, Alfred S. Sussman, editors, The Fungi: An Advanced Treatise, volume IVB (A Taxonomic…. From the entry gloeovessel
- But even these waters sometimes ran sterile.1927, Samuel Ornitz, A Yankee Passional, page 345. From the entry streamful
- The reality is that it creates sterile places, emptied of so many of the essential aspects of urban life, except the expensive activities.2025 May 26, Anna Minton, “A new kind of gentrification is spreading through London – and emptying out schools”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry placemaking
- The rank postparty stench that he had woken up to had been replaced by a sterile hospital nonscent, the faintest chemical whiff.2017, Chris Vola, Only the Dead Know Brooklyn, page 141. From the entry nonscent
- One set of triplicates was autoclaved twice, with a 24-hour room temperature incubation between autoclavings, and used as sterile controls for the mineralization assay.2016 March 1, “Actinorhizal Alder Phytostabilization Alters Microbial Community Dynamics in Gold Mine Waste Rock from Northern Quebec: A…. From the entry autoclaving
- Six-week-old female mice were anesthetized with an intraperitoneal injection of 2,2,2-trobromoethyl alcohol and tertamyl alcohol, followed by bilateral ovariectomy in sterile conditions.2015 July 24, Jiangman Gao et al., “Effect of Local Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor on…. From the entry tertamyl
- Libman-Sacks valvular lesions are sterile fibrofibrinous vegetations that favor the left-sided heart valves and usually form on the ventricular surface of the mitral valve.2015 July 22, Reshma M. Khan et al., “Embolic Stroke as the Initial Manifestation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus”, in Case Reports in…. From the entry fibrofibrinous
- Catheter care includes flushing with 0.2-0.4 mL sterile heparinized saline every 6-8 hours if an infusion is not being administered through the needle.2014, Etienne Cote, Clinical Veterinary Advisor, page 1183. From the entry overflush
- The hand is slightly extended on a short handboard with the help of folded 4 × 4 sponges before sterile preparation and draping.2014, Bruno Bissonnette, Pediatric Anesthesia, page 1109. From the entry handboard
- LaMere was hired to combat its Eurasian watermilfoil infestation, hundreds of sterile grass carp were released several years ago to eat the plants.2007 June 12, Lisa W. Foderaro, “Battling a Nasty Green Invader From the Deep”, in New York Times. From the entry watermilfoil
- The music is precise but never sterile--no one zeros in on the elusive grime and ghostly humanity in digitalia like Vainio and Vaisanen.2006 September 8, Peter Margasak, “Pan Sonic”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry digitalia
- Dysgenesic crosses, on the other hand—matings between races farthest apart on the scale of humanity—were either sterile or produced only a few sterile offspring.2006, John P. Jackson, Nadine M. Weidman, Race, Racism, and Science, page 73. From the entry dysgenesic
- But it wasn’t the sterile walls of the hospital I expected: no stirrups, no beeping monitors, no scrubbed nurses in face masks.1998, Shannon Friesen, “Afterbirth”, in Like Minds, Fredericton, N.B.: Broken Jaw Press, →ISBN, page 67. From the entry face mask
- The obsessive subject of our sterile confrontation between the two PCs ― the politically and the patriotically correct ― is clumsily labeled "multiculturalism".1993, Robert Hughes, Culture of Complaint. From the entry patriotically
- One variety of garden beet, crapaudine ( GBC ) from the compagny Semaphor carries the same Hind III ctDNA profile as the male sterile Owen.1988, E. Magnien, Biotechnology Action Programme, page 601. From the entry crapaudine
- The familiar hatchery practice of agitating the eggs after they are eyed, called shocking or addling, ruptures the yolk membranes of the ever-tender sterile eggs.1980, Earl Leitritz with Robert C[onklin] Lewis, Trout and Salmon Culture (Hatchery Methods) [California Fish Bulletin; 164], Oakland…. From the entry eyed
- Karst. (nymenophore smooth or warty, K. being distinguished from T. by the protruding hyphaelike cystidia) and Caldesiella (hymenophore has teeth with sterile tips).1965, C. G. Ainsworth, Frederick K[roeber] Sparrow, Alfred S. Sussman, editors, The Fungi: An Advanced Treatise, volume IVB (A Taxonomic…. From the entry hyphaelike
Meaning of sterile
- adjective Unable to reproduce (or procreate).
- adjective Terse; lacking sentiment or emotional stimulation, as in a manner of speaking.
- adjective Fruitless, uninspiring, or unproductive.
Questions about sterile in a sentence
- How do you use sterile in a sentence?
- Sterile is used as an adjective. For example: “In discussing alternatives to the polar extremes, Professor Nguyen mentioned two poles of a filthy floor versus a sterile surgical site.”
- What is a short sentence with sterile?
- “a sterile kitchen table”
- What does sterile mean?
- Sterile means unable to reproduce (or procreate).
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sterile (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use sterile in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/sterile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
