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 Words From

• un·festered adjective
• un·fester·ing 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

We denied them loans, closed them off in housing projects, redlined their neighborhoods, and left them to fester.

From The Daily Beast

I've tried to forget the grudges, the painful memories, the resentments I allowed to fester in my heart for so long.

From The Daily Beast

Low-grade insurgencies fester in other states, notably among the Karen minority.

From The Daily Beast

But they will leave the country rudderless, the victory will be hollow, and the problems will be left to fester.

From The Daily Beast

Jewish refugees were absorbed in Israel and the West; the Palestinians were left to fester in camps.

From The Daily Beast

Several of my toes commenced to blacken and fester near the tips and the nails worked loose.

From Project Gutenberg

The wrong done the body politic may fester unseen, but it festers on all the same.

From Project Gutenberg

Only such carrion as this was left to fester upon the earth, to poison the lives of decent men and women.

From Project Gutenberg

The enemies of their fellows are bred, not in deserts, but in cities, where human creatures fester together in heaps.

From Project Gutenberg

There are words a man has no power or wish to say to a man, yet which must be spoken or they fester in his mind.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• smolder