metastasize
Americanverb (used without object)
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Pathology. (of malignant cells or disease-producing organisms) to spread to other parts of the body by way of the blood or lymphatic vessels or membranous surfaces.
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to spread injuriously.
Street gangs have metastasized in our city.
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to transform, especially into a dangerous form.
The KGB metastasized after the fall of the Soviet Union. Truth metastasized into lurid fantasy.
verb
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pathol (esp of cancer cells) to spread to a new site in the body via blood or lymph vessels
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(of a problem) to deteriorate or spread into new areas
Etymology
Origin of metastasize
First recorded in 1905–10; metastas(is) + -ize
Explanation
When things metastasize, they grow and spread. Cancer cells are said to metastasize when they spread from one part of the body to another. A cancer patient dreads hearing the word metastasize, since it means that the malignant cells have spread through the body. Breast cancer cells are said to metastasize, for example, if they're found by a doctor in a patient's liver or brain. The process of this happening is known as metastasis. Both words come from the Late Latin metastasis, or "transition," with the Greek root word metastasis, "removal, migration, change, or revolution."
Vocabulary lists containing metastasize
The Kite Runner
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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The Fault in Our Stars
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"This means cancer cells will migrate within the nerve and use the nerve as a way to metastasize."
From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2026
That’s manifested in a widespread selloff that has started to metastasize beyond purveyors of enterprise software offerings.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 14, 2026
But, he said, he could be among those patients whose cancers do not produce elevated PSA levels or whose more aggressive cancers rapidly grow and metastasize within a matter of months.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2025
My mom’s cancer was diagnosed late and she was bounced from one provider to another, ultimately allowing her disease to metastasize past the point of no return.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2024
Without those limitations, copyright law will bloat and metastasize into a claim of monopoly, or at least control, over the very architectures of our communications technology.
From The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle
Since Starbucks first introduced the drink category in 2012, they’ve quickly metastasized across menus, becoming the popular secret third thing for those who aren’t into the taste or price tag of coffee or matcha.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
"The cancer has spread, is metastasized into his bones and further," Biden said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
Over the past year, the Epstein files have metastasized into a defining symbol of elite impunity.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026
Although he went into remission, the cancer later returned and metastasized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2025
In one patient, Henrietta’s cancer cells metastasized to her lymph nodes.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
As Hass delicately puts it, “The open divergences between Washington and its partners over the war’s legitimacy, execution, and fallout have exposed fissures that risk metastasizing to other issue areas over time.”
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026
Sakaguchi said that he wanted to continue researching how to enhance immune responses in cancer and to potentially prevent cancer cells from spreading and metastasizing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025
Prof Rahul Roychoudhuri, from the University of Cambridge, told me: "What we've discovered is that aspirin might work, surprisingly, by unleashing the power of the immune system to recognize and kill metastasizing cancer cells."
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2025
The threat “has been metastasizing across the country,” Wray testified in 2021, and “it’s not going away anytime soon.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2025
Marley had written that line a year before his death, while an operable melanoma was, at that moment, metastasizing to his lungs, liver, stomach and brain.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
