as in rots
to go through decomposition
a week after the battle the corpses of the fallen were still festering in the fields
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of festers
Andrea Tamayo, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2025
South End residents and retailers said at a City Council hearing last Friday that businesses in Boston are being battered by shoplifting to feed the addiction that festers daily at the Mass and Cass drug market.
—Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald, 21 Oct. 2025
Delay a tough conversation, and resentment festers.
—Jason Richmond, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Noun
Larger debate over the French retreat and the role of disease still festers, however.
—Andrea Tamayo, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2025
South End residents and retailers said at a City Council hearing last Friday that businesses in Boston are being battered by shoplifting to feed the addiction that festers daily at the Mass and Cass drug market.
—Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald, 21 Oct. 2025
Delay a tough conversation, and resentment festers.
—Jason Richmond, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for festers
Noun
-
The party was complete with seafood boils, a brass band, and a photo booth.—
Ashlyn Robinette,
PEOPLE,
27 Jan. 2026
-
The list of occasions can go on and on, ranging from universal (football and concerts) to local (ice fishing in northern Minnesota and crawfish boils in Baton Rouge).—
Rahul Goyal,
Fortune,
12 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
The big differences between the labs probably reflect the fact that, as Italians like to say, the fish rots from the head.—
Caroline Mimbs Nyce,
New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Bacterial plant diseases include speck (a winter-surviving infection that attacks tomatoes), canker (which damages fruit trees including those producing apples and peaches), and blight (which rots melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, beans, and more).—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
10 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The research team developed a route-planning system for Astrobee, the ISS’s robotic assistant, that leverages sequential convex programming—a method that decomposes complex trajectory planning into smaller, tractable steps while guaranteeing safety and feasibility.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
12 Dec. 2025
-
Shilajit is a mineral-rich resin that forms over centuries as plant material slowly decomposes under heat and pressure within the rocks of the Himalayan Mountains.—
Lindsay Curtis,
Verywell Health,
27 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
In fact, one of the most common triggers of rosacea, which is characterized by flushing, swelling, spider veins, papules, and pustules, is exposure to sunlight.—
Sherri Gordon,
Health,
15 Sep. 2025
-
Research suggests that pimple patches aren't effective on cystic acne, pustules, or blackheads.—
Cristina Mutchler,
Verywell Health,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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If the American state disintegrates, future postmortems are unlikely to focus much on measles, or on rotavirus vaccination rates.—
Vann R. Newkirk II,
The Atlantic,
9 Feb. 2026
-
The debris – space rocks known as meteoroids – collides with Earth's atmosphere at high speed and disintegrates, creating fiery and colorful streaks in the sky, according to NASA.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
2 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Bioré is putting pimples in the penalty box this basketball season.—
Kaleigh Werner,
Footwear News,
29 Jan. 2026
-
Here, argon-gas electrodes create a gentle current at up to 60 Hz, which helps to reduce the look of active pimples, calm visible redness, and even address the appearance of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.—
Deanna Pai,
Vogue,
20 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Grief gets layered on top of grief and secrets stack sky high as suburban normalcy decays into something at once alarmingly unstable and comfortingly funny.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
19 Dec. 2025
-
This famously happens when a quantum object is measured, but in this case, the mystery crops up when the top quark decays into lighter particles.—
Shalma Wegsman,
Quanta Magazine,
25 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Kabocha is usually dark green or orange with faint stripes or bumps on the outside, with vibrant orange flesh on the inside.—
Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner,
Martha Stewart,
9 Feb. 2026
-
This victory bumps Italy's curling team up to fourth place, right behind Canada.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Festers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/festers. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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