Meaning & use
sterile environment
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Meanings
nouncountabletechnical
A space, such as an operating room or laboratory, kept free of living germs so that nothing becomes contaminated.
Grammar: Countable noun phrase: a sterile environment.
Patterns
- work in a sterile environment
- keep something in a sterile environment
Surgeons must work in a sterile environment to prevent infection.
The cells were grown in a sterile environment inside the lab.
Babies in intensive care need a sterile environment.
nouncountablefigurativedisapproving
A place that feels cold, bare and impersonal, without warmth or character.
Grammar: Often used critically: a sterile environment for a school.
Patterns
- a sterile environment for something
The office felt like a sterile environment with white walls and no plants.
Students said the sterile environment of the new hall made them uncomfortable.
A hospital waiting room can be a sterile environment.
Common combinations
- maintain a sterile environment
- Nurses must maintain a sterile environment during surgery.
- in a sterile environment
- The samples are stored in a sterile environment.
- completely sterile environment
- A completely sterile environment is hard to achieve.
- create a sterile environment
- They create a sterile environment using filtered air.
Synonyms and how they differ
- clean room
- A clean room is a specific lab space with controlled dust, whereas sterile environment focuses on the absence of germs.
- aseptic setting
- Aseptic setting is more technical and used mainly in medicine.
- germ-free space
- Germ-free space is everyday language and less precise than sterile environment.
Opposites
Word family
- sterile adjective
- free from germs; also unable to reproduce
- sterilize verb
- to kill germs on something
- sterility noun
- the state of being free from germs
- sterilization noun
- the process of removing germs
Commonly confused: sterile environment or sanitary environment?
sterile environment vs sanitary environment
Sanitary means clean enough for health, but not necessarily free of all germs, which is what sterile means.
Practice
Surgeons must operate in a ___ environment to avoid infection.
Choose one answer.
Sterile means free from germs, which prevents infection. The other words do not describe cleanliness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sterile environment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.