sterile

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
sterile/ˈsterʌɪl/

▶adjective

• 1 not able to produce children or young.

  ■ (of a plant) not able to produce fruit or seeds.

  ■ (of land or soil) too poor in quality to produce crops.

• 2 lacking in imagination, creativity, or excitement.

• 3 free from bacteria or other living microorganisms.

– derivatives
sterilely adverb,
sterility noun.

– origin ME: from OFr., or from L. sterilis; rel. to Gk steira ‘barren cow’.