Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The condition of containing or discharging pus.
  • noun Pus.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being purulent; the generation of pus or matter; pus, or its presence; suppuration.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) The quality or state of being purulent; the generation of pus; also, the pus itself.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The condition of containing or discharging pus.
  • noun Pus.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun symptom of being purulent (containing or forming pus)
  • noun a fluid product of inflammation

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word purulence.

Examples

  • No, the purulence of a diseased sensibility, and its leakage into the blogosphere and elsewhere, will suffice: by the odour of decay you may know them.

    Archive 2009-03-01 2009

  • *Although the link between microorganisms and infection was yet to be established, the connection between pus—purulence—and sepsis, fever, and death, often arising from an abscess or wound, was well known to Bennett.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • *Although the link between microorganisms and infection was yet to be established, the connection between pus—purulence—and sepsis, fever, and death, often arising from an abscess or wound, was well known to Bennett.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • *Although the link between microorganisms and infection was yet to be established, the connection between pus—purulence—and sepsis, fever, and death, often arising from an abscess or wound, was well known to Bennett.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • No, the purulence of a diseased sensibility, and its leakage into the blogosphere and elsewhere, will suffice: by the odour of decay you may know them.

    ¡Viva la Muerte! 2009

  • Even Vanna White cannot hope to match the purulence that is

    Archive 2007-09-01 Angry Professor 2007

  • Even Vanna White cannot hope to match the purulence that is

    I need a little more cheepnis, please. Angry Professor 2007

  • The gold-eyed birds darting in between the leaves observed that purulence, that wetness, quizzically.

    The Waves 2003

  • Already the exploiting class, as it neared the term of its depleted life, was but a mass of purulence.

    The Wrong Twin Harry Leon Wilson 1903

  • Francis of Assisi kisses his lepers; Margaret Mary Alacoque, Francis Xavier, St. John of God, and others are said to have cleansed the sores and ulcers of their patients with their respective tongues; and the lives of such saints as Elizabeth of Hungary and Madame de Chantal are full of a sort of reveling in hospital purulence, disagreeable to read of, and which makes us admire and shudder at the same time.

    The Varieties of Religious Experience 1902

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.