sterilize
English
Alternative forms
- sterilise (UK)
Etymology
sterile + -ize
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈstɛrɪlʌɪz/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Verb
sterilize (third-person singular simple present sterilizes, present participle sterilizing, simple past and past participle sterilized)
- (transitive) To deprive of the ability to procreate.
- 2013, Gore, Al, “The Reinvention of Life and Death”, in The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, New York: Random House, →ISBN, LCCN 2012039890, OCLC 827202765, page 234:
- In China, the issue of forced abortions has resurfaced with the allegations by escaped activist Chen Guangcheng, but the outgoing premier Wen Jiabao has publicly called for a ban not only on forced abortion, but also of “fetus gender identification.” Nevertheless, many women who have abortions in China are also sterilized against their will.
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- (transitive) To make unable to produce; to make unprofitable.
- (transitive, biology) To kill, deactivate (denature), or destroy (break apart) all living, viable microorganisms and spores on a surface, in a fluid, or contained in a compound, such as culture media or a medical product.
- (transitive) To redact (a document), removing classified or sensitive material.
- 1974, Miles Copeland, Without cloak or dagger: the truth about the new espionage (page 141)
- […] (minus, of course, any information that might identify the agent and other operational personnel), or he might code it or "sterilize" it, and reward the foreign station chief in some other way.
- 2014, Evanthis Hatzivassiliou, NATO and Western Perceptions of the Soviet Bloc (page 2)
- The same phenomenon is also detectable in the records of the meetings of NATO committees: the priority of avoiding any manifestation of internal disagreements led to the production of 'sterilized' records of discussions which evidently were significantly more lively than shown in the official papers.
- 1974, Miles Copeland, Without cloak or dagger: the truth about the new espionage (page 141)
Related terms
- sterile
- sterilization
Translations
disable ability to procreate
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make unable to produce; make unprofitable
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(biology) to destroy all spores or germs
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See also
- birth control
- castrate
- castrato
- eunuch
- procreate
- procreation
- spay
References
- sterilize in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Further reading
- Wikipedia article on sterilization
Anagrams
- Listerize
Turkish
Etymology
From French stérilisé, past participle of stériliser.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ste.ɾi.li.ze/
Adjective
sterilize
- sterilized
- sterile (unable to reproduce)