as in to rot
to go through decomposition
a week after the battle the corpses of the fallen were still festering in the fields
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fester
Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 13 Sep. 2024
Read: Fear of a Black hobbit What makes Claudine worth watching 50 years later is the way Jones’s seductiveness is given room to fester.
—K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2024
Carine Harb, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
Relatives became alienated over the smallest monetary disputes, and arguments both personal and business-related can fester into issues that split a household in two.
—Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for fester 
Noun
However, before this cold war over property erupts, the film allows the shattering grief on either side to fester, allowing both factions to feel irrevocably human before things hit the fan.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 13 Sep. 2024
Read: Fear of a Black hobbit What makes Claudine worth watching 50 years later is the way Jones’s seductiveness is given room to fester.
—K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2024
Verb
Without regular in-person interactions, two key pitfalls tend to arise: Team members are less likely to voice concerns or confront inevitable grievances, which, if left unresolved, can fester and undermine teamwork.
—Carine Harb, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
Relatives became alienated over the smallest monetary disputes, and arguments both personal and business-related can fester into issues that split a household in two.
—Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for fester
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fester
Noun
-
But some providers may want to swab the blisters or take a tissue sample so a lab test can confirm the diagnosis.—
Brittany Risher,
SELF,
7 Feb. 2025
-
The blisters heal over time, but thick, scaly skin appears, especially around joints like your elbows and knees.—
Brandi Jones, MSN-Ed,
Health,
7 Feb. 2025
Verb
-
These waivers are now being implemented, that it is being executed, that food will be going out, but, to your point, about $40 million in food rotting in these warehouses in Houston, about 500,000 metric tons on ships on the sea.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2025
-
Like Twin Peaks, The Return opened with two murders, when a kissing couple were mauled by a mysterious monster who emerges from a glass box, and a body without a head and a head without a body were found rotting in a faraway room.—
K. Austin Collins,
The Atlantic,
7 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Richmond, Hanover and Henrico lifted their boil water advisories on Saturday afternoon.—
Sabrina Moreno,
Axios,
11 Jan. 2025
-
Richmond remains under a water boil advisory after a power outage impacted operations at a water treatment plant during a storm earlier this week.—
Meredith Deliso,
ABC News,
10 Jan. 2025
Verb
-
The bag had maggots inside and inside the suitcase police found the decomposing body of Johnson’s 7-year-old niece, Joshlyn Marie James Johnson, according to the news outlet.—
Jennifer Rodriguez,
Miami Herald,
11 Feb. 2025
-
Read Next Florida Surgeon removed wrong organ, killing man — and a cover-up followed, Florida suit says January 31, 2025 5:13 PM Read Next National Hospital left mom’s body to decompose in unrefrigerated room, suit says.—
Mike Stunson,
Kansas City Star,
4 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Victims develop high fevers, deep rashes and oozing pustules.—
William J. Broad,
New York Times,
12 Feb. 2025
-
Plants with orange rust, identified by orange pustules on the leaves, must be burned or disposed of in the trash.—
Kim Toscano,
Southern Living,
20 Jan. 2025
Verb
-
However, Lehr said, if 5% of residents come forward and vote against the termination, then the deal can disintegrate.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
30 Jan. 2025
-
This finding offers important new insight into the evolutionary underpinnings of outer ears, which are typically difficult to study, because cartilage disintegrates over time and does not fossilize like bone.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
23 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Clear plastic bins overflowed with deodorant, hair products and pastel pimple patches.—
Callie Holtermann,
New York Times,
16 Jan. 2025
-
Acne is one of the most common skincare conditions worldwide, and almost everyone develops a pimple at some point.—
Amanda Svachula,
Health,
13 Jan. 2025
Verb
-
What doesn’t decay this winter can be mulched up next spring.—
Jeff Lowenfels,
Anchorage Daily News,
22 Sep. 2022
-
In particular, many theorists have wondered how the great complexity of life can be reconciled with the laws of thermodynamics that suggest that all systems must inevitably decay to a state of greatest disorder.—
The Physics arXiv Blog,
Discover Magazine,
29 Apr. 2022
Thesaurus Entries Near fester
Cite this Entry
“Fester.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fester. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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