to fester
49
7.0
- verb
- /ˈfɛstər/
:
supurar
- Ignoring the issue will only cause it to fester and become more difficult to resolve.
- allow to fester
- wounds fester
- problems fester
Some conflicts have been left to fester for generations.
- Some conflicts have been left to fester for generations.
- Because if not, you're just letting the thing fester and get worse and get worse and get worse.
- Instead, you're staying still and you're letting it fester.
- But there is a second shame, which is the shame that festers in us when we don't talk about it.
- There's no other justification or explanation as to how this has been allowed to fester in this manner.
- And then if you don't have that, then you have this, this gaping wound that's just going to fester.
- That is where Rosantamont festers and takes place.
- They go in and now they just sit and fester and kind of ferment.
- I mean, somewhere where you can not fester in your own.
- And so it just continued to fester and and and lead to more and more conflict.
- Yet it causes so much anger for people right when they just let it fester up.
Examples
-
Do not allow a small issue to fester into an open, mortal wound!
Academic text (2006) -
If left untreated, the cut on his arm began to fester and produce pus.
-
And so it just continued to fester and and and lead to more and more conflict.
-
Sometimes these things take a while to fester.
-
Some conflicts have been left to fester for generations.
-
I'd rather answer his question and bring truth to light than allow animosity to fester.
-
We cannot afford to relegate discord to the background where it will only fester and grow.
Academic text (2005) -
And that resentment ends up festering and their relationship is slowly eroding.
-
Unaddressed problems can fester, impair performance, and lead to more costly confrontations later on.
Academic text (2017) -
Rather than discussing their differences, they chose to let the tension fester over time.
Synonyms
2
9.9
To form and send out pus from a wound because of infection
1
8.9
To cause a wound or boil to form pus and open
To develop fully, as a wound or cell that forms pus
Antonyms
How Serious
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word fester comes from an old word meaning 'to rot' or 'to become sore'. Think of rot: a small cut left alone goes bad and fills with pus, which is why to fester means to become infected or to get worse if not treated.