malignancy
Americannoun
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the quality or condition of being malignant.
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malignant character, behavior, action, or the like.
the malignancies of war.
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a malignant tumor.
noun
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the state or quality of being malignant
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pathol a cancerous growth
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of malignancy
First recorded in 1595–1605; malign(ant) + -ancy
Vocabulary lists containing malignancy
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:
Unknown to her, the malignancy metastasized during her pregnancy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Mary’s presence is a malignancy, a blight on the name that Sam has worked so hard to build, an identity that’s separate from Mary’s and secure in its solitude.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
But he sure makes the strongest case for being the most malevolent, influential force there, a malignancy that poisons everything he touches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2026
Using these images, the model was able to identify patterns that predict anatomical site, malignancy, and prognosis across three different use cases in four cohorts.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2024
These natural cancer-causing agents are still a factor in producing malignancy; however, they are few in number and they belong to that ancient array of forces to which life has been accustomed from the beginning.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
She replied that the doctor would have immediately talked to my father and me if he had found visible malignancies, but that the biopsy would say more.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
In women aged 40 to 49 the most common malignancies were breast, melanoma, and colorectal cancers.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2024
The most common side effects of Xolair are injection site reactions and fever, but the FDA noted that the drug has also been associated with joint pain, rash, parasitic infections, malignancies and abnormal laboratory tests.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
The fabled front was always understood to be window dressing veiling frustrations, squelched desires, and other malignancies.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2023
The first recognition of malignancies traceable to the age of industry came during the last quarter of the 19th century.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
