(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.