sterile
part of speech
adjective (sterile)
meaning for a pupil
1) Sterile means completely clean and free from germs (bacteria and viruses): sterile bandages, a sterile operating room. tree →
2) Sterile means unable to have babies or young, or (of plants) unable to make seeds or fruit. tree →
3) Sterile land cannot grow crops. tree →
4) Sterile also means dull, lifeless, without ideas or warmth: a sterile argument, a sterile room. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and health lessons it appears with hygiene, first aid, hospitals and microbes: sterile means no living germs at all. In biology it appears with reproduction in animals and plants. In stories a sterile place feels cold and empty. Phrases: "sterile dressing", "sterile water", "keep sterile", "sterile environment".
examples
- Doctors use sterile gloves during operations. tree →
- The nurse opened a sterile bandage. tree →
- Boiling water can make baby bottles sterile. tree →
- A mule is usually sterile, so it cannot have foals. tree →
- The desert soil was sterile and nothing grew. tree →
- The new office felt sterile, with white walls and no plants. tree →
- In the lab, keep the dish sterile so no germs grow. tree →
note
British pronunciation "STER-ile" (rhymes with "mile"), American "STER-ul". Verb: sterilise (UK) / sterilize (US); noun: sterility. "Sterile" in science means not even one living germ, which is more than just "clean".
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «sterile» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.