suppurate

American  

[suhp-yuh-reyt] / ˈsʌp jəˌreɪt /

verb (used without object)

suppurated, suppurating

1. to produce or discharge pus, as a wound; maturate.

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suppurate British  

/ ˈsʌpjʊˌreɪt /

verb

1. (intr) pathol (of a wound, sore, etc) to discharge pus; fester

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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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

suppurate suppurated suppurating

If the Fallopian tubes are involved, and this happens frequently, they suppurate, and often they must be removed by coeliotomy.

From Essays In Pastoral Medicine by ?Malley, Austin

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.

It must be noted, that these kinds of inflammation can exist together; and some parts of the cellular membrane may suppurate at the same time that the external skin is affected with erythema, or erysipelas.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus

The testis in men is also liable to suppurate with great pain, long confinement, and much danger; and lastly the affection of the brain is fatal to many.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus

Sometimes the parotis or maxillary glands suppurate, producing ulcers which are difficult to cure, and frequently destroy the patient, where there was a previous scrophulous tendency.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus

The wound became infected, suppurated, and when a surgeon eventually removed a portion of his jaw, it left a deformed face and an angry, short-tempered man.

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2015

The Tin Drum and Dog Years are masterpieces of comedy and verbal invention about the culture and history that suppurated as the Third Reich.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mr. F——, about sixty, was supposed to have the gout in his hand, which however suppurated, and it was then called the suppurative rheumatism.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus

At fourteen she was burned over her breasts by running against a shovelful of hot coals, and several months later small tumors appeared, which never suppurated.

From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Pyle, Walter L. (Walter Lytle)

At the Base hospital the eye suppurated and was removed.

From Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre by Makins, George Henry

All this comes before a close-up on a suppurating bedsore.

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2024

The banter is believable, as are the pinpricks of disquiet and the weird suppurating wounds that increasingly mar this otherwise ordinary scene and its genial hero.

From New York Times ● Aug. 26, 2021

Nothing human is alien to it, not suppurating psychic wounds, and especially not bodily functions.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 9, 2018

He spent almost two years lying on his stomach, while his back was suppurating with infections.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 2, 2017

"I'll tell you what I'm talking about, you suppurating little blister!" the Trunchbull shouted.

From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl