fester
Americanverb (used without object)
-
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)
noun
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an ulcer; a rankling sore.
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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
- unfestered adjective
- unfestering adjective
Etymology
Origin of fester
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
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
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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.
Sweeping contentious issues under the rug and relegating them to wanton aggravation is one major way of letting these same topics fester.
From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026
"I think for everybody there was an element of it was going to happen because antisemitism has been allowed to grow and fester and become normalised," Finlay said.
From BBC • Feb. 13, 2026
At the same time, those provisions do not align with other features of the student-loan system that can allow the debt to fester for decades.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 19, 2025
For Congolese former deputy Enoch Ruberangabo, who comes from an ethnic Tutsi community in the restive east, Mobutu was a leader who "allowed community tensions to fester".
From Barron's • Nov. 13, 2025
And you left the same Band-Aid on for—God—probably thirty-seven hours by now, just letting it fester inside that warm, moist old Band-Aid.
From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
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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.