infertility
(ɪnfəˈtɪlɪtɪ)
[a. late L. infertilitās, f. infertilis: see prec. and -ity: cf. F. infertilité (15–16th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
The quality or condition of being infertile; unfruitfulness, unproductiveness, barrenness.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. iii. 7 The Minerals..shall Counteruaile the infertilitie of Soile. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. ix. 214 Commonly the same distemperature of the Air that occasioned the Plague, occasioned also the infertility or noxiousness of the Soil. 1847 Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) I. p. lxii, This immunity from error accompanies an infertility of knowledge. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. ix. (1878) 248 Individuals which happened to be endowed..with mutual infertility. |