festers 1 of 2

noun

plural of fester
as in boils
a small, inflamed swelling of the skin pus oozed out of the fester

Synonyms & Similar Words

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festers

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of fester
as in rots
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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of festers
Noun
So pretending imbalance isn't happening — like when one partner is regularly absorbing all the work and smiling through it — just delays the same resentment that often festers in exchange relationships. — Mark Travers, CNBC, 30 Aug. 2026 More anxiety festers as the situation leaves unanswered questions of layoffs and more for the $80 billion debt a combo ParaBros will carry if the two iconic companies become one. — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 17 Aug. 2026 What occurs over the course of the weekend is what happens as grief festers into rage. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 28 May 2026 Throughout this episode, Austin’s bitterness festers. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026 It festers as part of a long, continuous line. — Theater Critic, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Mar. 2026 When Trimmers fail to recognize this, evil festers. — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026 Steep declines in timber harvests, meant to save Oregon’s last ancient forests, ripped open an urban-rural divide that still festers. — Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 20 Mar. 2026 Larger debate over the French retreat and the role of disease still festers, however. — Andrea Tamayo, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for festers
  1. boils
  2. rots
  3. pustules
  4. decomposes
  5. pimples
  6. disintegrates
  7. bumps
  8. decays
Noun
  • At sufficiently low pressure, warm seawater boils at a temperature far below the usual 100 °C (212 °F).
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 4 Sep. 2026
  • People showed strange boils and rashes that volunteers photographed.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of boils
Verb
  • Messages break down, signals decay, information rots; the stuff of everyday data dystopia and media apocalypse, but in Braxton’s hands, raw material to be shaped into something recombinant and strange.
    — Reed Jackson, SPIN, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Medicine shortages have worsened and food rots in fridges without power.
    — Andrea Rodriguez, Fortune, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of rots
Noun
  • This causes small but often painful red pustules that cluster at the places where the hairstyle is pulling the tightest.
    — Ayren Jackson-Cannady, Allure, 20 Aug. 2026
  • In animals, the bacterium causes pustules and lesions, predominantly in cattle, sheep, and horses.
    — Helen Branswell, STAT, 11 May 2026
Definition of pustules
Verb
  • Named for the Frenchman Joseph Fourier, the Fourier transform decomposes any function into a set of simple waves, each with a different frequency, or tone.
    — Shalma Wegsman, Quanta Magazine, 12 Aug. 2026
  • The research team enabled a room-temperature, four-electron chemical reaction path that forms and decomposes lithium oxide, which expands available energy storage.
    — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 3 June 2026
Definition of decomposes
Noun
  • The biggest overnight mistakes include sleeping in makeup, skipping moisturizer, over-exfoliating, using SPF as a night cream and picking at pimples in bed.
    — Samantha Agate, Sacbee.com, 17 Aug. 2026
  • In addition to being predominantly white, shoes with pimples around the outside of the toes are not permitted.
    — Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 30 June 2026
Definition of pimples
Verb
  • Even those who can afford to stay suffer losses in home equity and lifestyle as the community around them disintegrates or disappears.
    — The Conversation, Fortune, 12 June 2026
  • None are quite about the conflicting frames of reference and value that arise when an ancient cultural formation disintegrates and a successor has yet to take its place.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
Definition of disintegrates
Noun
  • This device uses a beam of inert argon ions to smooth microscopic bumps without disturbing the sample’s underlying chemistry, eliminating the false signals.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Jangale remembers software errors and a drivetrain that proved too weak to roll over soft bumps in initial tests.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of bumps
Verb
  • Rituals are performed, oaths proposed and broken, and tensions escalate as the unburied body decays.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Control concentrated in one person dies with that person, decays with that person's judgment, and converts to cash the day that person takes a hard enough offer.
    — Kyle Westaway, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
Definition of decays

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Cite this Entry

“Festers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/festers. Accessed 13 Sep. 2026.

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