ulcerate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ulcerate
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ulcerātus (past participle of ulcerāre to make sore), equivalent to ulcer- ( see ulcer) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To ulcerate is to fester, or to develop into a terrible, painful sore. Ouch! In medical terms, when a wound ulcerates, it doesn't heal, but becomes worse — red, open, painful, and sometimes infected. Skin can ulcerate, resulting in bedsores or canker sores in the mouth, and internal wounds can also ulcerate, forming what's known as an ulcer, or open sore. The Latin root of both words, ulcus, means "sore."
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.
See Examples For:
The improvement didn't last long though, as the cornea began to cloud and ulcerate.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2015
It's just big happy crowds of harmless arty people expressing themselves and breaking a few pointless shibboleths that only serve to ulcerate young people anyway.
From Time Magazine Archive
The prison press must publish under conditions that would ulcerate an editor on the outside.
From Time Magazine Archive
Though very indolent, these finally tend to ulcerate, and in time oedematous swellings appear in the vicinity or at distant parts of the body, with nodules at intervals.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
Should the wound not readily heal, but ulcerate, it may be bathed with alum-water.
From Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc. by Robert Jennings
Another woman with severely ulcerated legs had been told her legs would have to be amputated - but the diary recorded that she was cured by a herbal remedy.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2023
Over time, she developed pain from an ulcerated disk.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 23, 2021
The fish had ulcerated skin and internal hemorrhages; sometimes ponds full of fish were wiped out.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 4, 2020
A woman with a prolapse, a thyroid condition, an enlarged heart, an ulcerated leg that never healed, and two sets of false teeth — matte for everyday, and a pearlized set for ‘best.’
From New York Times ● Mar. 8, 2012
His ulcerated tooth, at least, had improved, and he was no longer confined to bed.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
But the sores that worried the vets were actually tumors that were ulcerating and rotting away under assault by T-cells.
From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2016
But the ulcerating guilt captured in that brutal couplet calls to mind something else that Kipling did: pull strings to get John a commission, after John had twice been rejected on account of weak eyesight.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 25, 2015
But fewer could name the disease spread by those pesky sandflies: The ulcerating skin infection called leishmaniasis.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2011
Just three hilarious, incisive episodes later, it was all over – quietly discharged from the schedules, leaving an almost perceptible stench of soiled sheets, rising bile and ulcerating despair.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 18, 2010
And many think the mamba brings more suffering, what with the ulcerating and all.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
