lymphoma
Americannoun
noun
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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:
Neill had angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare and aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
The Danish biotechnology company and partner AbbVie said a drug combination to treat lymphoma met the primary goal in a late-stage clinical trial.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
And the International Agency for Research on Cancer maintains that peer-reviewed studies show that Roundup is “probably” a carcinogen to humans and is linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Since then, he and roughly 170,000 other users have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and related cancers associated with extended exposure to glyphosate, Roundup’s key ingredient and a probable carcinogen.
From Slate ● Jun. 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
Their work showed that a triple-therapy combination could be effective against blood cancers that involve B cells, including certain leukemias and lymphomas.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2025
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
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
The F.D.A. said it was aware of fewer than 20 cases of carcinoma, and fewer than 30 cases of unexpected lymphomas, in the capsule around the breast implant.
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022
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.
