FESTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fester mean? 

• FESTER (noun)
  The noun FESTER has 1 sense:

1. a sore that has become inflamed and formed pus

  Familiarity information: FESTER used as a noun is very rare.

• FESTER (verb)
  The verb FESTER has 1 sense:

1. ripen and generate pus

  Familiarity information: FESTER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FESTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sore that has become inflamed and formed pus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

fester; suppurating sore

Hypernyms ("fester" is a kind of...):

sore (an open skin infection)

Derivation:

fester (ripen and generate pus)

• FESTER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fester    ... he / she / it festers   
Past simple: festered   
Past participle: festered   
-ing form: festering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Ripen and generate pus

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

fester; maturate; suppurate

Context example:

her wounds are festering

Hypernyms (to "fester" is one way to...):

discharge; eject; exhaust; expel; release (eliminate (a substance))

Verb group:

mature; suppurate (cause to ripen and discharge pus)

Sentence frame:

Somebody's (body part) ----s

Derivation:

fester (a sore that has become inflamed and formed pus)

festering ((medicine) the formation of morbific matter in an abscess or a vesicle and the discharge of pus)

 Context examples 

One funnel-shaped depression in the morass, of a livid green in color from some lichen which festered in it, will always remain as a nightmare memory in my mind.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Challenging aspects can also reveal a festering situation that may have been growing that you will want to address.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Come, Victor; not brooding thoughts of vengeance against the assassin, but with feelings of peace and gentleness, that will heal, instead of festering, the wounds of our minds.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

His forearms were black and blue from wrist to elbow, what of the countless blows he had warded off, and here and there the tortured flesh was beginning to fester.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Such a recoil is like that of a hair, made to grow out from the body, turning unnaturally upon the direction of its growth and growing into the body—a rankling, festering thing of hurt.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It would appear that they are a half-brute, half-human species, a race apart, wherein there is no such thing as sex; that they are hatched out by the sun like turtle eggs, or receive life in some similar and sordid fashion; and that all their days they fester in brutality and viciousness, and in the end die as unlovely as they have lived.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Mars will sometimes stir the pot in an effort to clear the air of any submerged feelings of frustration that may have festered.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)