sterilise vs alter

sterilise and alter both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
sterilise	No	No	Yes	No
alter	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, alter is a hyponym of sterilise; that is, alter is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than sterilise:

sterilise (verb)	alter (verb)
make infertile	remove the ovaries of
make free from bacteria	become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence
	cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
	insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby
	make an alteration to