fester
Americanverb (used without object)
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festers,
present (3rd person singular)
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festered,
past participle, past
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festering
present participle
-
to form pus; generate purulent matter; suppurate.
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to cause ulceration, as a foreign body in the flesh.
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to putrefy or rot.
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to rankle, as a feeling of resentment.
verb (used with object)
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festers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
festered,
past participle, past
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festering
present participle
noun
-
an ulcer; a rankling sore.
-
a small, purulent, superficial sore.
verb
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to form or cause to form pus
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(intr) to become rotten; decay
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to become or cause to become bitter, irritated, etc, esp over a long period of time; rankle
resentment festered his imagination
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informal (intr) to be idle or inactive
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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festersimple
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festerssimple
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have festeredperfect
-
has festeredperfect
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am festeringprogressive
-
are festeringprogressive
-
is festeringprogressive
-
have been festeringperfect progressive
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has been festeringperfect progressive
Past
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festeredsimple
-
had festeredperfect
-
was festeringprogressive
-
were festeringprogressive
-
had been festeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fester
1350–1400; (noun) Middle English festir, festre < Anglo-French, Old French festre < Latin fistula fistula (for -l- > -r- cf. chapter); (v.) Middle English festryn, derivative of the noun or < Old French festrir
Explanation
To fester is to grow and spread, not in a good way. When a cut gets infected it starts to fester and smell bad. Emotional wounds stink too, like when you hold on to anger or pain until it starts to fester and explodes. Fester is a verb describing what happens to a wound or a sore that gets worse and has liquid, or pus, oozing out. Infections cause cuts, broken bones, and diseases to fester. Dead bodies can fester too — as they decompose. Things that fester have a decaying odor, and bad feelings can have a decaying effect on friendships and the heart. Letting bitter emotions fester often leads to their getting worse.
Vocabulary lists containing fester
Bud, Not Buddy
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Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Psychiatric researchers are referring to the confluence of these three characteristics—sycophancy, linguistic alignment and hyperpersonalization—as the “amplification spiral,” suggesting it’s the mechanism by which delusional thinking can fester.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
But it doesn’t get better if we just leave the bubble to fester.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
She says she does her best to tell him that the system is cruel and wrong, but she doesn’t want the anger to fester.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026
Despite this, he's facing a dwindling number of volunteers and donors - a symptom, as he puts it, of a town "left to fester" in economic strife.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
“He said we can’t hide from our fears. We have to be able to talk about them, or else they’ll fester like poison, eating us from the inside.”
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
Farmers and herders clash over land in the centre of the country while a simmering separatist movement festers in the southeast.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
By your early 70s, the anxiety festers and grows.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
Given the heavy rainfall and nonporous soil, the waste festers, exposing residents to health risks.
From New York Times ● May 5, 2023
“A reservoir of resentment grows and festers and it shatters the trust and confidence that members of the community have in law enforcement,” Armour said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2022
Now everything resonates, sticks like a splinter, festers.
From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour
The “ignominy” of missing action, we are told, remained a “badge of shame” that festered for the rest of his life, “driving him to seek reckless vindication” in confrontations with other men of his class.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
McCartney said confusion over the break-up had festered because the band's new manager Allen Klein - with whom he refused to align - said he had needed time to tie up some financial loose ends.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2024
Resentment festered in the meantime, as Bush and his peers questioned why the school hadn’t fought harder to defend him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2024
Wilson’s lead is a working-class Black man, a former Negro league superstar whose dreams festered when baseball’s color barrier prevented him from rising into the big leagues.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2024
These two groups were obliged to work side by side in the war plants, and their animosities festered and opened like boils on the face of the city.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
As earnings season gets under way, festering worries about artificial-intelligence stocks could be put to bed.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
This lends an intriguing additional layer to Iago’s festering, consuming hatred: Even his own wife is a potential rival, in addition to, he believes, having slept with Othello.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
But with little progress on the issues festering and so much riding on their relationship, any reprieve could be temporary—and the space for surprises large.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
Ray’s mysterious and fraught history as a member of the British military during the Troubles is a festering boil this film will eventually lance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2025
These things—the sickly sweet baby shit smell of the festering diapers, the bowl of oranges and the gold tree—blend in my mind into an image of ultrasophistication.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
