STERILIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sterilize mean? 

• STERILIZE (verb)
  The verb STERILIZE has 2 senses:

1. make free from bacteria

2. make infertile

  Familiarity information: STERILIZE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STERILIZE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sterilize    ... he / she / it sterilizes   
Past simple: sterilized   
Past participle: sterilized   
-ing form: sterilizing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make free from bacteria

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

sterilise; sterilize

Hypernyms (to "sterilize" is one way to...):

disinfect (destroy microorganisms or pathogens by cleansing)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sterilize"):

autoclave (subject to the action of an autoclave)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

sterilization (the procedure of making some object free of live bacteria or other microorganisms (usually by heat or chemical means))

sterilizer (a device for heating substances above their boiling point; used to manufacture chemicals or to sterilize surgical instruments)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make infertile

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

desex; desexualise; desexualize; fix; sterilise; sterilize; unsex

Context example:

in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disabilites are sterilized

Hypernyms (to "sterilize" is one way to...):

operate; operate on (perform surgery on)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sterilize"):

alter; castrate; neuter; spay (remove the ovaries of)

castrate; demasculinise; demasculinize; emasculate (remove the testicles of a male animal)

vasectomise; vasectomize (remove the vas deferens)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

sterilization (the act of making an organism barren or infertile (unable to reproduce))

 Context examples 

A device that uses steam under high pressure to sterilize medical and laboratory supplies and equipment.

(Autoclave, NCI Dictionary)

A device problem that occurred during or as the result of the cleaning, disinfecting, or sterilizing process.

(Device Cleaning Disinfecting Sterilization Problem Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

This substance does not break down in an autoclave (a device that uses steam under high pressure to sterilize medical and laboratory supplies and equipment).

(Autoclave-resistant factor, NCI Dictionary)

You can also rinse out your nose, but be sure to use distilled or sterilized water with saline.

(Hay Fever, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Ethylene oxide is used especially in the synthesis of ethylene glycol and as a sterilizing agent for medical supplies and foods, as a fumigant and as an insecticide.

(Ethylene oxide, NCI Thesaurus)

The Irradiation Shared Resource provides Cancer Center investigators with support in the following areas: cell, tumor, specimen, animal irradiation for studies of radiobiologic mechanisms or to suppress immune responses in experimental animals, as well as to sterilize various cell, vaccine and drug preparations; radiotherapy models development and treatment planning, laser and photodynamic therapy, in vivo imaging, in vivo fluorescent imaging, atomic absorption spectroscopy, DNA damage and other radiation assays, safety training and dosimetry measurements.

(Irradiation Shared Resource, NCI Thesaurus)