metastasis
Americannoun
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Pathology.
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the transference of disease-producing organisms or of malignant or cancerous cells to other parts of the body by way of the blood or lymphatic vessels or membranous surfaces.
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the condition produced by this.
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Rhetoric. a rapid transition, as from one subject to another.
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Physics. a change in position or orbit of an elementary particle.
noun
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pathol the spreading of a disease, esp cancer cells, from one part of the body to another
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a transformation or change, as in rhetoric, from one point to another
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a rare word for metabolism
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of metastasis
First recorded in 1580–90, metastasis is from the Greek word metástasis “a changing”; see meta-, stasis
Explanation
When a doctor uses the word metastasis, it's never good news. It means an illness has spread to new parts of the body. The noun metastasis is a medical term that's most often used to describe a spreading cancer. If a patient's lung cancer spreads to his heart or to his lymph nodes, that is metastasis. It's a Greek word meaning "transference or change." In Latin, the word metastasis was at one time used to mean "a sudden transition in subjects," but ever since the 1660s, the English use has been almost entirely medical.
Vocabulary lists containing metastasis
Cell Biology - Middle School
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Cell Biology - High School
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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:
Chronically high IL-6 levels have also been linked to recurrence and metastasis of multiple types of cancer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
As a result, the conditions become more favorable for tumor growth and tumour metastasis.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2026
Taken together, the results point to a previously underappreciated gut-bone marrow-liver metastasis axis.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 23, 2026
"Since then, we've discovered its mechanism of action in breast cancer growth, metastasis and immune exhaustion and developed an antibody to block SFRP2."
From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 2026
Stanzas we were at first profane enough to attribute to Metastasio, but afterwards found that it was only the metastasis of his metre adapted to the use of the church.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 363, January, 1846 by Various
Three weeks later, she learnt she actually had stage three cancer with limited metastases.
From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026
A major validation of this approach came from a melanoma trial that delivered results few expected: a 49% reduction in cancer recurrence and a 62% reduction in deadly distant metastases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2025
"It shows just how well the GPS ensured that they would only work in the brain. The same strategy even worked to clear brain metastases of breast cancer."
From Science Daily ● Dec. 5, 2024
"We have identified the novel protein FOXF1 that stabilizes blood vessels inside the lung tumors, decreases intertumoral hypoxia and prevents lung cancer metastases," explained Dr. Kalin, the senior author on this study.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 16, 2024
The cancers most liable to give rise to metastasis in bone are those of the breast, liver, uterus, prostate, colon, and rectum; hyper-nephroma of the kidney may also give rise to metastases in bone.
From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Thomson, Alexis
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.
