suppurate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- unsuppurated adjective
Etymology
Origin of suppurate
1555–65; < Latin suppūrātus (past participle of suppūrāre ), equivalent to sup- sup- + pūr- (stem of pūs ) pus + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To suppurate is to get infected and form pus. If that scrape on your knee starts to suppurate, you might want to go to the doctor. In medicine, suppurate is the official term for what you might think of as "become gross and full of pus." Pimples sometimes become swollen and painful before they suppurate, and cuts and scrapes that get infected can also suppurate, oozing a thick, white substance. We can trace this word back to a root that means both "matter from a sore" and "bitterness or malice."
Vocabulary lists containing suppurate
Beowulf
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Matilda
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Novel Study: Beowulf (trans. Seamus Heaney), Lines 1905–3182
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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.
This malady makes its appearance on the cow's teats in the form of small pustules, which, after the inflammatory stage, suppurate.
From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by Dadd, George
If the injury is continuously repeated, the horn becomes altered in character and the soft tissues may suppurate or a horny tumor develop.
From Special Report on Diseases of the Horse by Michener, Charles B.
A milder form occurs, in which the main incidence is on the periosteum; the symptoms are less severe, it does not tend to suppurate, and is usually recovered from.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander
The skin may suppurate or slough more or less over the areas of greatest tension or where it is irritated by blows or pressure.
From Special Report on Diseases of the Horse by Michener, Charles B.
These sores, especially when deep, suppurate freely, and if there are no complications they tend to heal rapidly as soon as the degenerated tissue has softened and is entirely removed.
From Special Report on Diseases of the Horse by Michener, Charles B.
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.
