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

No amount of martyrdom can save his legacy from succumbing to the rot he festered.

From Salon • Sep. 21, 2025

But the chaos Yoon unleashed that night has festered.

From BBC • Jun. 1, 2025

Resentment festered in the meantime, as Bush and his peers questioned why the school hadn’t fought harder to defend him.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 30, 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