sterilize Meaning, Definition & Usage

verb make free from bacteria
sterilise.
verb make infertile
sterilise; desex; desexualise; unsex; desexualize; fix.
- in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disabilites are sterilized

Cf. F. stériliser.

imperfect & past participle Sterilized ; present participle & verbal noun Sterilizing

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