sterilization

Plural: sterilizations

Noun

• the act of making an organism barren or infertile (unable to reproduce)
• the procedure of making some object free of live bacteria or other microorganisms (usually by heat or chemical means)
• The process of treating something to kill or inactivate microorganisms.
• A procedure to permanently prevent an organism from reproducing.
• An instance of a sterilization procedure.
• A monetary policy operation used to offset a foreign exchange intervention.
• The process of permanently rendering a planet like Earth completely uninhabitable to all life, including even microbes, leading to their complete extinction.

Examples

• Heat sterilization is used during canning so the food can be safely stored for long periods.
• In about 1 billion years, the increasing heat from the Sun as it gradually ages, by triggering a runaway greenhouse effect that will boil away the oceans, will lead to the complete sterilization of all life on Earth.
• Spaying a cat is a form of sterilization to limit the population growth.
• The Federal Reserve is responsible for foreign exchange sterilization.
• The vet performed several sterilizations this week.

Synonyms

sterilisation

Related Words

autoclave, sanitization, sterilize