Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act or operation of making sterile; specifically, the process of freeing from living germs. Also spelled sterilisation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Biol.) The act or process of sterilizing, or rendering sterile; also, the state of being sterile.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable The process of treating something to kill or inactivate microorganisms.
  • noun uncountable A procedure to permanently prevent an organism from reproducing.
  • noun countable an instance of a sterilization procedure
  • noun uncountable A monetary policy operation used to offset a foreign exchange intervention.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the procedure of making some object free of live bacteria or other microorganisms (usually by heat or chemical means)
  • noun the act of making an organism barren or infertile (unable to reproduce)

Etymologies

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