suppurate

American  

[suhp-yuh-reyt] / ˈsʌp yəˌreɪt /

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

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

When the outer skin begins to suppurate, it should be removed with a pair of pincers, and the patch treated as an open wound.

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

“He is in the most favourable position for the wounds in his back and chest to suppurate easily, and absolute rest is necessary.”

From The Secret of the Island by Kingston, William Henry Giles

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.