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

“As a result, we’ve let problems fester, missed opportunities and neglected partners,” he wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal earlier this year.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"Two years on from the horrific massacre on October 7, we must also be honest: the same hatred that fuelled those barbaric attacks still festers today," she said.

Read more on BBC

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.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

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

Read more on 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.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• smolder