How to Use sterile in a Sentence

sterile

adjective
  • Use sterile, sharp tools to make your cuts.
    — Gemma Johnstone, The Spruce, 18 Jan. 2026
  • The result is a sterile carousel of clubs at the top.
    — Megan Feringa, New York Times, 27 May 2026
  • What used to feel clean and crisp now feels sterile and dated.
    — Heather Bien, The Spruce, 9 Jan. 2026
  • To keep weeds at bay, spread sterile straw between rows.
    — Donna Vickroy, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2026
  • So farmers plant sterile triploid plants along with diploid plants.
    — Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 3 July 2020
  • When the sterile males mate with wild females, the eggs do not hatch.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2026
  • When a wild female mates with a sterile male, her eggs won’t hatch.
    — Kimberly Miller, USA Today, 3 June 2026
  • When a wild female mates with a sterile male, her eggs won’t hatch.
    — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 4 June 2026
  • Potting mix is sterile and free from weeds, pests, and pathogens.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 19 Apr. 2026
  • There are many ways to make men sterile, but none yet that can undo it.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 21 Dec. 2017
  • Of long drives and sterile sheets, trapped in tiny spaces with your thoughts.
    — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 18 May 2025
  • The claps are crisper, and the snare drums smack harder, but the sound is sterile.
    — Tyler Foggatt, New Yorker, 8 June 2025
  • Jay explains how the hues feel a bit sterile and are on their way out in the new year.
    — Sarah Lyon, The Spruce, 29 Dec. 2025
  • It’s stocked with bandages, burn cream, gauze, sterile gloves, and more.
    — Rylee Johnston, Travel + Leisure, 14 Nov. 2025
  • This is the best way to avoid a sterile space that feels more like a hotel than a home.
    — Ashley Chalmers, The Spruce, 7 June 2026
  • Callery pears were developed to be sterile but are now known to bear fruit.
    — Jennifer Rude Klett, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7 May 2020
  • Kent was calling the games from a sterile studio, away from the games.
    — oregonlive, 21 June 2021
  • Select vines that are sterile or have easy-to-remove seed pods.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 9 Apr. 2026
  • The mix should be sterile and hold roughly an equal amount of air and moisture.
    — Benjamin Whitacre, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 July 2022
  • For most bleeds, the first step is to apply pressure with a sterile gauze.
    — Patricia "blackpacker" Cameron, Outside Online, 27 Oct. 2025
  • The idea comes from a method called the sterile insect technique.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2026
  • With two treatments, the capybaras should be sterile for at least a few months.
    — Michael Nied, People.com, 18 Apr. 2025
  • Soon, laughter filled his room, a sterile space with few touches of home.
    — New York Times, 31 Aug. 2019
  • Spray the piercing with sterile saline wound wash when cleaning it.
    — Sherri Gordon, Health, 24 Oct. 2025
  • But in the new study, sterile, germ-free mice were infected just fine.
    — Diana Gitig, Ars Technica, 14 Apr. 2018
  • Urine is sterile; the sink gets washed out afterward; and my hands are clean.
    — Annie Lane, oregonlive, 14 Dec. 2021
  • Buy a bag of sterile, fast-draining potting mix.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Such sterile flies, though, are in short supply at the moment.
    — Emily Kay Votruba, EverydayHealth.com, 11 June 2026
  • The swabs are then placed in sterile tubes filled with a solution that keeps the virus testable.
    — Julie Washington, cleveland, 19 Mar. 2020
  • The process begins with sterile source tissue, a small piece of a leaf, fruit, root, or shoot.
    — Nicole Kagan, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Aug. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sterile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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