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:
It's the situation Erin found herself when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma in August 2024.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Gao died on July 7, at 55, of T-cell lymphoma.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Mary appears to have a form of treatment-resistant schizophrenia, until chemotherapy, following a diagnosis of lymphoma, banishes her psychiatric symptoms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 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
“But she also has lymphoma, and it’s very serious.”
From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata
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
"Not much drug development has happened in this space of T-cell leukemias and lymphomas," Paul says.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 2, 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
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.
