The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

esign, abdicate, quit, bow out, retire: Don't you think it
time you stepped down from the chairmanship? b decrease,
diminish, reduce: Using this transformer, we can step down the
voltage gradually. 15 step in. intervene, interfere, intercede,
become involved: It seemed the right time for us to step in and
take over the company. 16 step on it. hurry (up), make haste,
hasten, speed up: He'd better step on it if he is going to
catch his plane. 17 step out. a go outside or out of doors,
leave: Would you mind stepping out for a few minutes while we
settle this in private? b go out, socialize: Notice how quickly
Genevieve has started stepping out again after her bereavement.
c become disinvolved, withdraw, secede: Our firm stepped out of
the negotiations when we saw who was bidding. 18 step up. a
improve, progress: George has certainly stepped up in the world
since I knew him at university. b increase, accelerate, raise,
intensify, boost, escalate, up, speed up: They stepped up the
pace until she could no longer keep up with them.
sterile adj. 1 barren, fruitless, unfruitful, childless, unproductive,
infertile, infecund: The first great disappointment of
Napoleon's life was that Josephine was sterile. 2 pure, aseptic,
uninfected, unpolluted, uncontaminated, disinfected, sanitary,
sterilized, germ-free, antiseptic: Make sure that you always
use a sterile bandage for a wound. 3 barren, unproductive,
stale, effete: Vanessa's greatest fear was that her mind would
become sterile and she would run out of ideas.
sterilize v. 1 purify, disinfect, cleanse, clean, fumigate, depurate,
Technical autoclave: Sterilize the instruments before using
them. 2 castrate (males), emasculate (males), geld (horses),
spay (female animals), alter (animals), neuter (animals),
caponize (male fowl), eunuchize (males), Technical ovariectomize
(females), vasectomize (males), Colloq fix (animals), cut (male
animals), Slang tie (someone's) tubes: Steers - that is,
sterilized bulls - yield tenderer meat.
sterling adj. 1 genuine, authentic, real, true, pure: Is this
candle-snuffer sterling silver? 2 excellent, superior, superb,
superlative, first-class, exceptional, matchless, peerless,
unequalled, nonpareil, incomparable, fine, very good, worthy,
estimable, admirable: Commander Ian Johnston has acquitted
himself as an officer of sterling character.