fester

[fes-ter]

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verb (used without object)

to form pus; generate purulent matter; suppurate.

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

to putrefy or rot.

to rankle, as a feeling of resentment.

verb (used with object)

to cause to rankle: Malice festered his spirit.

noun

an ulcer; a rankling sore.

a small, purulent, superficial sore.

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

Related formsun·fes·tered, adjectiveun·fes·ter·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for festered

smolder, blister, chafe, aggravate, decay, gather, canker, gall, irk, maturate, ulcer, putrefy, suppurate, rot, rankle, ulcerate

Examples from the Web for festered

Contemporary Examples of festered

It brings out the distance and doubt that festered within the proximate intimacy of the Marston family.
Wonder Woman’s Creation Story Is Wilder Than You Could Ever Imagine
Tom Arnold-Forster
November 3, 2014
Erik then shows me the area where the old Jewish ghetto once festered, just northeast of the main square.
Exploring the Darker Side of James Joyce’s Trieste
Jeff Campagna
January 13, 2014
He has festered so long on death row and so inflated his profile that fellow inmates now call him “Pops.”
The Slain Policeman's Widow in the Mumia Abu-Jamal Case Speaks
Michael Smerconish
November 8, 2010
And ultimately, once my alienation had festered, I could barely communicate or think.
How I Lost My Mind at Princeton
Walter Kirn
May 19, 2009

Historical Examples of festered

It had festered like an abscess and the abscess had burst, splashing every one.
The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume VIII.
Guy de Maupassant
Latterly the wound had festered, and gave him agonising pain.
The Lively Poll
R.M. Ballantyne
Her wounds stiffened and festered from imbedded shot, and she was dry and feverish.
The Yellow Horde
Hal G. Evarts
It festered so deeply that she could not speak of it to Johnny's father.
An Old Chester Secret
Margaret Deland
I had this grievance, and it festered and raised the whole temperature of my hate.
Foe-Farrell
Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

British Dictionary definitions for festered

fester

verb

to form or cause to form pus

(intr) to become rotten; decay

to become or cause to become bitter, irritated, etc, esp over a long period of time; rankleresentment festered his imagination

(intr) informal to be idle or inactive

noun

a small ulcer or sore containing pus

Word Origin for fester

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for festered

fester

late 14c., from Old French festre "small sore discharging pus," from Latin fistula "pipe, ulcer" (see fistula). The noun is from c.1300. Related: Festered; festering.

festered in Medicine

fester

[fĕs′tər]

v.

To ulcerate.

To form pus; putrefy.

n.

An ulcer.