Definition of "sterile" []

• Not producing or incapable of producing offspring. (adjective)
• Not producing or incapable of producing seed, fruit spores, or other reproductive structures. Used of plants or their parts. (adjective)
• Producing little or no vegetation; unfruitful: sterile land. (adjective)
• Free from live bacteria or other microorganisms: a sterile operating area; sterile instruments. (adjective)
• Lacking imagination, creativity, or vitality. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For starters, he's put off by what he calls the sterile look of modern evangelical churches."
• "It feels sterile to me but sterile is better in my view than some crime-ridden shithole."
• "His hands touched the tools, glanced off the handle of a modified bone-saw that lay with its harsh circular blade submerged in sterile solution."