festered

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.

The “ignominy” of missing action, we are told, remained a “badge of shame” that festered for the rest of his life, “driving him to seek reckless vindication” in confrontations with other men of his class.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026

McCartney said confusion over the break-up had festered because the band's new manager Allen Klein - with whom he refused to align - said he had needed time to tie up some financial loose ends.

From BBC • Dec. 2, 2024

“We’ve been grinding hard, but it’s just a disappointing factor that others waited too long to do something about it, you know? That’s why it’s festered into this,” Hernandez said.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 19, 2024

Wilson’s lead is a working-class Black man, a former Negro league superstar whose dreams festered when baseball’s color barrier prevented him from rising into the big leagues.

From Salon • Sep. 12, 2024

If the rise of farming was thus a bonanza for our microbes, the rise of cities was a greater one, as still more densely packed human populations festered under even worse sanitation conditions.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond