fester

[fes-ter]

verb (used without object)

1. to form pus; generate purulent matter; suppurate.

2. to cause ulceration, as a foreign body in the flesh.

3. to putrefy or rot.

4. to rankle, as a feeling of resentment.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause to rankle.

   Malice festered his spirit.

noun

1. an ulcer; a rankling sore.

2. a small, purulent, superficial sore.

fester

/ ˈfɛstə /

verb

1. to form or cause to form pus

2. (intr) to become rotten; decay

3. to become or cause to become bitter, irritated, etc, esp over a long period of time; rankle

   resentment festered his imagination

4. informal,  (intr) to be idle or inactive

noun

1. a small ulcer or sore containing pus

Other Word Forms

• unfestered adjective
• unfestering adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fester¹

1350–1400; (noun) Middle English festir, festre < Anglo-French, Old French festre < Latin fistula fistula (for -l- > -r- chapter ); (v.) Middle English festryn, derivative of the noun or < Old French festrir

Word History and Origins

Origin of fester¹

C13: from Old French festre suppurating sore, from Latin: _fistula

Example Sentences

No amount of martyrdom can save his legacy from succumbing to the rot he festered.

From Salon

She compared the attempted coup to a "virus", which, if left to fester, can kill the society in which it has taken hold in.

From BBC

In this respect “I Know This Much Is True” also is a dramatic tapestry of destructive anger issues, festering under a lifetime of repressed resentment and confusion.

From Salon

Such incidents have resurfaced the Indonesian public’s festering distrust of the police force, said Jacqui Baker, a scholar of Indonesian security and policing at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.

From Los Angeles Times

What has made it fester is the belief that Japan has never fully owned up to its atrocities in places it occupied – not just China, but also Korea, what was then Malaya, Philippines, Indonesia.

From BBC

Related Words

• smolder