In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
STERILIZE
sterilize, sterilise, desex, unsex, desexualize, desexualise, fix
(verb) make infertile; “in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disabilites are sterilized”
sterilize, sterilise
(verb) make free from bacteria
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
sterilize (third-person singular simple present sterilizes, present participle sterilizing, simple past and past participle sterilized)
(transitive) To deprive of the ability to procreate.
(transitive) To make unable to produce; to make unprofitable.
(transitive, biology) To kill, deactivate (denature), or destroy (break apart) all living, viable microorganisms and spores on a surface, in a fluid, or contained in a compound, such as culture media or a medical product.
(transitive) To redact (a document), removing classified or sensitive material.
Anagrams
• Listerize
Source: Wiktionary
Ster"il*ize, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sterilized; p. pr. & vb. n. Sterilizing.] Etym: [Cf. F. stériliser.]
1. To make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility. [R.] "Sterilizing the earth." Woodward.
2. (Biol.) (a) To deprive of the power of reproducing; to render incapable of germination or fecundation; to make sterile. (b) To destroy all spores or germs in (an organic fluid or mixture), as by heat, so as to prevent the development of bacterial or other organisms.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
3 July 2025
SENSE
(noun) the faculty through which the external world is apprehended; “in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing”
Coffee Trivia
