lymphoma
Americannoun
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lymphomas,
plural
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lymphomata
plural
noun
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lymphomas
plural
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Any of various usually malignant tumors that arise in the lymph nodes or other lymphatic tissues, often manifested by painless enlargement of one or more lymph nodes.
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See also Hodgkin's disease
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of lymphoma
From New Latin, dating back to 1870–75; see origin at lymph-, -oma
Explanation
Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects blood and lymph nodes. Lymphoma makes it hard for the body to fight off infection. The term lymphoma adds the medical suffix -oma, "morbid growth or tumor," to lymph, from its Latin root lympha, "water" or "goddess of water." Lymph is the colorless, water-like fluid in our bodies that contains white blood cells, and the lymphatic system is the part of our immune system that carries lymph toward the heart.
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:
Mr. T himself was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in 1995.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies the chemical as a probable carcinogen and has linked exposure to bladder cancer, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
Three years later, Bale died of brain lymphoma.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Constance is in remission from cancer after having follicular lymphoma, external.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
President Carter reluctantly allowed them into the United States so the shah could receive surgery for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but then all hell broke loose in Tehran.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
This approach – known as CAR-T or chimeric antigen receptor T-cells – is already an approved treatment in blood cancers including some leukaemias and lymphomas.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma develops in B-lymphocytes, which are part of the body’s immune system and account for the majority of non-Hodgkin lymphomas, according to the American Cancer Society.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2024
“We even have a few leukemias and lymphomas where we want to start therapy less than 24 hours after suspicion,” he said.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
This makes CD20 an attractive target for monoclonal antibody therapies which have been used to treat a variety of B-cell lymphomas, including follicular lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, diffuse large B cell lymphomas and high-grade B-cell lymphomas.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2023
In March 2020, Willan, who works at the University of Oxford and Wexham Park Hospital, began to track the hospital’s COVID-19 cases among people with leukemias, lymphomas, and other blood diseases.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 20, 2023
This group has been still further extended by the addition of the lymphomata occurring in typhoid fever, scarlet fever, and diphtheria.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
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.
