sterility

1. 1.

   (of non-living objects) the state of being free of pathogenic organisms

   Synonymsasepsisantisepsissterileness

   Broadersanitariness
2. 2.

   the state of being unable to produce offspring; in a woman it is an inability to conceive; in a man it is an inability to impregnate

   Synonymsinfertility

   Broaderphysical condition

   Narrowerimpotencebarrennesscacogenesisdysgenesis

Other forms of sterility

plural

sterilities·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about sterility

What does sterility mean?

sterility means "(of non-living objects) the state of being free of pathogenic organisms". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in sterility?

sterility has 4 syllables: ste-ril-i-ty. The stress falls on "ril". In IPA it is /stɚˈɪlɪti/.

What is another word for sterility?

Close synonyms include asepsis, antisepsis, sterileness, infertility. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is sterility a common word?

sterility is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.