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

These indolent tumours may be brought to suppurate sometimes by passing electric shocks through them every day for two or three weeks, as I have witnessed.

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

When boils progress to the stage where they appear about to "point" then stop and do not suppurate, Echinacea is the remedy.

From New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers by Anshutz, Edward Pollock

Quitter, kwit′ėr, n. a fistulous sore on the quarters or the heel of the coronet of a horse's hoof.—v.i. to suppurate.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

As soon, however, as these show a tendency to suppurate poultices should be applied, and the resulting ulcer treated as if occurring under other circumstances.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

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