abscession
n.n. a medical condition where a pocket of pus forms in the body. It is an old word for an infection that causes a lump to grow.
n. the formation of a localized collection of pus within the tissues of the body. An archaic or highly technical term for a specific type of infection.
The doctor treated the abscession with a small incision.
The patient was diagnosed with a deep abscession that required immediate surgical drainage to prevent further infection.
While modern medicine uses more precise terms, the historical record describes the patient's condition as a severe abscession that had spread to the surrounding lymph nodes.
Learned borrowing from Latin abscessio (“a separation”); from abscedere. See abscess.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Last updated May 18, 2026