How to Use canker in a Sentence

canker

noun
  • Their bark is so thin, hail can cause scarring and cankers can form.
    — Debbie Arrington, sacbee, 28 Apr. 2018
  • Sometimes the canker is an area of swollen bark, and some cankers bleed sap.
    — Beth Botts, chicagotribune.com, 20 Feb. 2022
  • Please read more about incense-cedar branch canker and what to do about it at this link.
    — oregonlive.com, 10 Aug. 2019
  • Sunken reddish, dark brown, or purplish cankers form on the bark and ooze sap.
    — Steve Bender, Southern Living, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Even the experts are puzzled about the causes of cane canker.
    — Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Aug. 2021
  • There can be orange and red flecks on the tree outside the areas killed by the canker.
    — oregonlive, 13 June 2021
  • Some of the trees are covered with black canker, a fungal infection.
    — Avedis Hadjian, Christian Science Monitor, 9 Jan. 2025
  • The mainstay of apple canker control is pruning out the cankers.
    — oregonlive, 23 Jan. 2022
  • To control, plant resistant trees and cut out branches or trees with cankers.
    — The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 21 July 2015
  • Then small patches of polyp tissue started to die, like spreading canker sores.
    — Elizabeth Svoboda, Scientific American, 1 May 2021
  • Citrus canker, spread by wind and rain, discolors fruit and weakens trees.
    — Tonya Alanez, Sun-Sentinel.com, 20 June 2017
  • Pathogens including powdery mildew, gray mold, root rot, and stem rots/cankers can be a problem from time to time.
    — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 3 Oct. 2025
  • To avoid spreading diseases such as dogwood canker, take care to disinfect your pruners.
    — Beth Botts, chicagotribune.com, 28 Feb. 2021
  • Cold-injury symptoms may look like, or lead to the development of, cankers and diebacks.
    — The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 21 July 2015
  • The cankers are generally found at the tips of branches but can spread down the stem to affect more of the plant.
    — Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 8 May 2017
  • Sources of this disease can include old cankers, healthy buds, leaf surfaces and nearby weeds and grasses.
    — oregonlive, 19 Aug. 2023
  • The disease often infects branches on sycamores, causing girdling cankers and dieback.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2023
  • Scout cherry trees for signs and symptoms of bacterial canker.
    — oregonlive, 3 Jan. 2022
  • On sycamores, the disease often infects branches, causing girdling cankers and dieback.
    — Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 26 June 2018
  • Any trees that are affected year after year or develop cankers will be weakened.
    — Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 26 June 2018
  • A couple of things to watch for are oozing sap blisters indicating a canker, which is common in this area.
    — oregonlive, 26 Jan. 2023
  • Treating canker diseases can be difficult, but proper care and watering can help.
    — Samantha Johnson, Martha Stewart, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Since those halcyon days, natural calamities like canker and greening have proved costly.
    — Andrew Furman, WSJ, 22 Mar. 2018
  • The move came after potato wart, an unsightly canker that poses no threat to human health, was detected in two fields.
    — Washington Post, 5 Feb. 2022
  • State officials acknowledged that some of that land, which has been ravaged by canker, a plant disease, is useless for restoration.
    — Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 10 Mar. 2010
  • Bacterial canker is the main threat to the tree’s survival, as infected trees may only last 10 years.
    — Calvin Finch, ExpressNews.com, 15 Jan. 2021
  • Redbuds are also susceptible to canker from a Botryosphaeria fungus.
    — Steve Bender, Southern Living, 23 Jan. 2023
  • There is no treatment for cytospora canker, according to Yiesla.
    — Beth Botts, chicagotribune.com, 23 May 2018
  • Drought, flooding and winter injury can leave elderberry plants open to canker-causing fungi.
    — oregonlive, 23 May 2020
  • Vines growing on the trunk and branches can hide structural damage or potential hazards like a canker or decayed section of a branch or the trunk.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 22 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'canker.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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