foment
/fə(ʊ)ˈmɛnt
/verb [with object]
1Instigate or stir up (an undesirable or violent sentiment or course of action): they accused him of fomenting political unrest...
- The working class must reject all such attempts to foment nationalist sentiments in the name of defending the welfare state.
- But by the same token, it's not a good thing for them to be fomenting world opinion against us either.
- Most people can sense a ‘grand design’ to bring Indonesia to its knees by fomenting violence and unrest across the archipelago.
Synonyms
instigate, incite, provoke, agitate, excite, stir up, whip up, arouse, inspire, encourage, urge, actuate, initiate, generate, cause, prompt, start, bring about, kindle, spark off, trigger off, touch off, fan the flames of
rare enkindle, effectuate
2 archaic Bathe (a part of the body) with warm or medicated lotions.Foment the limb with cloths immersed in a strong decoction of hops, and repeat two or three times a day....
- The ear may likewise be fomented with steams of warm water, or flannel bags filled with boiled mallows and camomile flowers may be applied to it warm.
Derivatives
fomenter
/ noun ...- And here are the American fomenters of disorder.
- Crass never went about anything in an orthodox manner during their tenure as fomenters of dissent from 1977 to 1984.
- On the other, they have seen them as fomenters of sectarian discord in what should be the united Arab nation.
Origin
Late Middle English (in sense 2): from French fomenter, from late Latin fomentare, from Latin fomentum 'poultice, lotion', from fovere 'to heat, cherish'.