sterilize - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: sterilize

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ster·i·lize

Audio Help [ster-uh-lahyz] Pronunciation Key

–verb (used with object), -lized, -liz·ing.

1.	to destroy microorganisms in or on, usually by bringing to a high temperature with steam, dry heat, or boiling liquid.

2.	to destroy the ability of (a person or animal) to reproduce by removing the sex organs or inhibiting their functions.

3.	to make (land) barren or unproductive.

4.	Informal. to delete or remove anything comprising or damaging from: to sterilize a government document before releasing it to the press.

5.	Informal. to isolate or completely protect from unwanted, unauthorized, or unwholesome activities, attitudes, influences, etc.: You can't sterilize children against violence.

Also, especially British, ster·i·lise.

[Origin: 1685–95; sterile + -ize

]

—Related forms

ster·i·liz·a·ble, adjective

ster·i·liz·a·bil·i·ty, noun

ster·i·liz·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
sterilize

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ster·il·ize Audio Help (stěr'ə-līz') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. ster·il·ized, ster·il·iz·ing, ster·il·iz·es

To make free from live bacteria or other microorganisms.
To deprive (a person or an animal) of the ability to produce offspring, as by removing the reproductive organs.
1. To make incapable of bearing fruit or germinating.
2. To render (land) unfruitful.
Economics To place (gold) in safekeeping so as not to affect the supply of money or credit.
To make inoffensive or innocuous: sterilized the terminology with euphemisms.

ster'il·iz'er n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

sterilize
verb
1.	make free from bacteria
2.	make infertile; "in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disabilites are sterilized"

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ˈsterilize, *ˈsterilise1 [-ri-] verb

to make (a woman etc) sterile

Arabic:	يُعَقِّر الإمرأه
Chinese (Simplified):	使绝育
Chinese (Traditional):	使絕育
Czech:	sterilizovat
Danish:	sterilisere
Dutch:	steriliseren
Estonian:	steriliseerima
Finnish:	steriloida
French:	stériliser
German:	sterilisieren
Greek:	στειρώνω
Hungarian:	sterilizál
Icelandic:	dauðhreinsa, gera ófrjóan
Indonesian:	memandulkan
Italian:	sterilizzare

Japanese:	不妊にする
Korean:	불임화하다, 단종하다
Latvian:	sterilizēt; padarīt neauglīgu
Lithuanian:	padaryti nevaisingą, sterilizuoti
Norwegian:	sterilisere
Polish:	sterylizować
Portuguese (Brazil):	esterilizar
Portuguese (Portugal):	esterilizar
Romanian:	a steriliza
Russian:	стерилизовать
Slovak:	sterilizovať
Slovenian:	sterilizirati
Swedish:	sterilisera
Turkish:	kısırlaştırmak

ˈsterilize, *ˈsterilise2 [-ri-] verb

to kill germs in (eg milk) or on (eg surgical instruments) by boiling

Arabic:	يُعَقِّم، يَقْتُل الجَراثيم
Chinese (Simplified):	煮沸消毒
Chinese (Traditional):	煮沸消毒
Czech:	sterilizovat
Danish:	sterilisere
Dutch:	steriliseren
Estonian:	steriliseerima
Finnish:	steriloida
French:	stériliser
German:	sterilisieren
Greek:	αποστειρώνω
Hungarian:	sterilizál
Icelandic:	gerilsneyða
Indonesian:	mensterilkan
Italian:	sterilizzare

Japanese:	殺菌する
Korean:	끓여서 살균하다, 소독하다
Latvian:	sterilizēt
Lithuanian:	sterilizuoti
Norwegian:	sterilisere
Polish:	wyjaławiać
Portuguese (Brazil):	esterilizar
Portuguese (Portugal):	esterilizar
Romanian:	a steriliza
Russian:	стерилизовать
Slovak:	sterilizovať
Slovenian:	sterilizirati
Swedish:	sterilisera
Turkish:	mikroplarını öldürmek

See also: sterile, "sterilize" in any language

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Sterilize

Ster"il*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sterilized; p. pr. & vb. n. Sterilizing.] [Cf. F. st['e]riliser.]

1. To make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility. [R.] "Sterilizing the earth." --Woodward.

2. (Biol.) (a) To deprive of the power of reproducing; to render incapable of germination or fecundation; to make sterile. (b) To destroy all spores or germs in (an organic fluid or mixture), as by heat, so as to prevent the development of bacterial or other organisms.

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