(1):
(a.) Producing little or no crop; barren; unfruitful; unproductive; not fertile; as, sterile land; a sterile desert; a sterile year.
(2):
(a.) Incapable of reproduction; unfitted for reproduction of offspring; not able to germinate or bear fruit; unfruitful; as, a sterile flower, which bears only stamens.
(3):
(a.) Free from reproductive spores or germs; as, a sterile fluid.
(4):
(a.) Fig.: Barren of ideas; destitute of sentiment; as, a sterile production or author.