How to Use sterile in a Sentence

sterile

adjective
  • The band wanted to be sure the new record was not sterile.
    Eric Fuller, Forbes, 15 Apr. 2022
  • At Canyon Creek, the sterile rooms were quiet and still.
    Lizzie Presser, ProPublica, 29 Nov. 2022
  • Clean the area: Use a sterile saline wound wash spray twice per day.
    Madeleine Burry, Health, 1 Feb. 2024
  • They are meant to feel less sterile and more like home.
    Chloe Berger, Fortune, 12 May 2022
  • After Hours, the mega-star’s most sterile project to date.
    Bobby Olivier, SPIN, 7 Jan. 2022
  • Kent was calling the games from a sterile studio, away from the games.
    oregonlive, 21 June 2021
  • The process begins with sterile source tissue, a small piece of a leaf, fruit, root, or shoot.
    Nicole Kagan, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Aug. 2023
  • The mix should be sterile and hold roughly an equal amount of air and moisture.
    Benjamin Whitacre, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 July 2022
  • Urine is sterile; the sink gets washed out afterward; and my hands are clean.
    Annie Lane, oregonlive, 14 Dec. 2021
  • The piercer will first clean and prep your skin, using a sterile, single-use pen to mark the spot of your piercing.
    Madeleine Burry, Health, 1 Feb. 2024
  • And who would know the best about a sterile environment?
    David Browne, Rolling Stone, 15 June 2022
  • At the end of this very long, sterile block is one other person, a young woman.
    Lawrence Jackson, Harper's Magazine, 10 July 2023
  • That was key to the slog through long days, tight deadlines and an Olympics that often felt sterile and joyless.
    Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2021
  • The woman handed the couple some sterile gauze and told them to keep pressure applied to the wound, Zach said.
    oregonlive, 25 July 2023
  • The agency cannot order a recall of wipes - sterile or not.
    John Diedrich, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 Aug. 2021
  • Prescott was treated with sterile dressing on site before surgery to wash the wound and fix the fracture.
    Jori Epstein, USA TODAY, 10 Aug. 2021
  • If part of the bone protrudes, apply pressure and cover with a clean, sterile gauze.
    Stacey Colino, Parents, 20 Sep. 2023
  • The skin grafts, which are produced in sheets, keep wounds sterile and promote healing.
    Andy Peters, ajc, 11 Apr. 2022
  • Each pill has been made under the most sterile, precise, and strictest standards.
    Michael Carroll, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2024
  • If there was no sperm in his semen, he would’ve been deemed sterile in a prior lifetime.
    BostonGlobe.com, 14 May 2021
  • Its planes of gray and black feel hard-edged and sterile, which is to say entirely at odds with the emotional warmth of the food coming out of the kitchen.
    Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2024
  • Like other hybrids in the animal kingdom, such as the mule or the liger, the kunga was sterile.
    Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Jan. 2022
  • Back then, Baker was 35 and feared his last Olympic memory would be that strange and sterile ouster.
    Jerry Brewer, Washington Post, 24 July 2024
  • Keeping the skin clean is also key, so use sterile bandages.
    Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Sep. 2022
  • Using sterile pruners, cut three-inch sections of stem.
    Steve Bender, Southern Living, 15 Aug. 2023
  • Because the blooms are sterile, this viburnum does not produce fruit.
    Rebecca Bull Reed, Southern Living, 10 June 2024
  • Overall, most of the valve procedures only take about a half hour, and don't even require a sterile surgery suite.
    Devi Shastri, Journal Sentinel, 31 Aug. 2022
  • Overall, the mix gives the home a bright, airy feel and keeps the dominantly white spaces from feeling sterile.
    Kristina McGuirk, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Apr. 2022
  • Joan and Pascal try on a bunch of clothes while a pianist sits and watches them in their sterile hotel suite, and then Wayne Newton shows up.
    Alice Burton, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2024
  • For novices, writing sterile code to make lively games presents a challenging mental puzzle.
    PCMAG, 28 Oct. 2024

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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