metastasis

[ muh-tas-tuh-sis ]
See synonyms for metastasis on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural me·tas·ta·ses [muh-tas-tuh-seez]. /məˈtæs təˌsiz/.
  1. Pathology.

    • 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.

    • the condition produced by this.

  1. Rhetoric. a rapid transition, as from one subject to another.

  2. Physics. a change in position or orbit of an elementary particle.

Origin of metastasis

1
First recorded in 1580–90, metastasis is from the Greek word metástasis “a changing”; see meta-, stasis

Other words from metastasis

  • met·a·stat·ic [met-uh-stat-ik], /ˌmɛt əˈstæt ɪk/, adjective

Words Nearby metastasis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use metastasis in a sentence

  • Indeed, some 90 percent of cancer fatalities are the result of the metastasis rather than the primary tumor.

    Jobs’s Unorthodox Treatment | Sharon Begley | October 6, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • I have thought that its origin might be accounted for on the principle of metastasis of morbid material.

  • The gills have become shifted forward by a metastasis similar to that which brought the whole thoracic organs far forward in fish.

    Form and Function | E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
  • We note here an interpretation of the first metastasis in terms of functional adaptation.

    Form and Function | E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
  • In the same category of laminitis from metastasis may also be placed the laminitis occurring as a result of an overdose of aloes.

    Diseases of the Horse's Foot | Harry Caulton Reeks
  • When metastasis takes place, as it occasionally does, the fungus is transmitted by the blood vessels, as in pyæmia.

    Manual of Surgery | Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles

British Dictionary definitions for metastasis

metastasis

/ (mɪˈtæstəsɪs) /


nounplural -ses (-ˌsiːz)
  1. pathol the spreading of a disease, esp cancer cells, from one part of the body to another

  2. a transformation or change, as in rhetoric, from one point to another

  1. a rare word for metabolism

Origin of metastasis

1
C16: via Latin from Greek: transition

Derived forms of metastasis

  • metastatic (ˌmɛtəˈstætɪk), adjective
  • metastatically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for metastasis

metastasis

[ mə-tăstə-sĭs ]


  1. A cancerous tumor formed by transmission of malignant cells from a primary cancer located elsewhere in the body.

Other words from metastasis

  • metastasize verb

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.