fester

We start talking about relationships and unhealthy withdrawal and letting things fester to the point that when the emotions come out, it feels abrupt and the other person has no idea what’s going on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Given your reaction, I don’t believe it’s a good idea to let this fester.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026

In April, the government shared their update of the Women's Health Strategy, when Health Secretary Wes Streeting said they wanted to "dismantle the culture and ingrained behaviours that allow medical misogyny to fester and grow".

From BBC ● May 11, 2026

Sweeping contentious issues under the rug and relegating them to wanton aggravation is one major way of letting these same topics fester.

From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2026

Her skirt caught the cool evening wind, which tugged her away even fester.

From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld

Farmers and herders clash over land in the centre of the country while a simmering separatist movement festers in the southeast.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

By your early 70s, the anxiety festers and grows.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026

With no immediate help from officers, the fear and anxiety festers inside you.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2025

They allow listeners to call or text questions on WhatsApp, a social media platform especially popular with immigrant communities but where much of the misinformation they see festers.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2024

Below us Toronto festers in the evening heat, the trees spreading like worn moss, the lake zinc in the distance.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

But an uneasy tension festered behind the fanfare.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

Peace proposals and presidents have come and gone but the problems have festered.

From BBC ● Feb. 5, 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

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

These two groups were obliged to work side by side in the war plants, and their animosities festered and opened like boils on the face of the city.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

As earnings season gets under way, festering worries about artificial-intelligence stocks could be put to bed.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

Mountains of festering trash blight the streets of the capital, as dump trucks don’t have fuel to pick up the waste.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

But with little progress on the issues festering and so much riding on their relationship, any reprieve could be temporary—and the space for surprises large.

From Barron's ● May 12, 2026

Such incidents have resurfaced the Indonesian public’s festering distrust of the police force, said Jacqui Baker, a scholar of Indonesian security and policing at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2025

And you, my husband, what chance have you when so many young men are festering in idleness!

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya