# sterile

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈstɛɹaɪl/ · frequency rank #16,591

## Definitions
1. Unable to reproduce (or procreate).
2. Terse; lacking sentiment or emotional stimulation, as in a manner of speaking.
3. Fruitless, uninspiring, or unproductive.
4. Germless; free from all living or viable microorganisms.
5. Permanently uninhabitable (as in a planet like Earth) to all life, including even microbes.
6. Free from dangerous objects, as a zone in an airport that can be only be entered via a security checkpoint.
7. Of weapons: foreign-made and untraceable to the United States.

## Etymology
From Middle French stérile, from Latin sterilis (“barren, futile”). See also Ancient Greek στεῖρα (steîra).

## Easily confused with
- **strike** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-strike)
- **strive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-strive)
- **Stevie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-stevie)
- **stripe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-stripe)
- **stride** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-stride)
- **strife** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-strife)
- **Stewie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-stewie)
- **sternly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-sternly)
- **sterilize** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sterile-vs-sterilize)
- **serie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/serie-vs-sterile)
- **Steele** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steele-vs-sterile)
- **senile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/senile-vs-sterile)
- **serine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/serine-vs-sterile)
- **steeple** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steeple-vs-sterile)
- **startle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/startle-vs-sterile)

## Common misspellings (10)
`setrile`, `ssterile`, `steirle`, `steriel`, `sterille`, `sterlie`, `sterrile`, `streile`, `stterile`, `tserile`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sterile