metastasize
Americanverb (used without object)
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Pathology. (of malignant cells or disease-producing organisms) to spread to other parts of the body by way of the blood or lymphatic vessels or membranous surfaces.
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to spread injuriously.
Street gangs have metastasized in our city.
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to transform, especially into a dangerous form.
The KGB metastasized after the fall of the Soviet Union. Truth metastasized into lurid fantasy.
verb
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pathol (esp of cancer cells) to spread to a new site in the body via blood or lymph vessels
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(of a problem) to deteriorate or spread into new areas
Etymology
Origin of metastasize
First recorded in 1905–10; metastas(is) + -ize
Explanation
When things metastasize, they grow and spread. Cancer cells are said to metastasize when they spread from one part of the body to another. A cancer patient dreads hearing the word metastasize, since it means that the malignant cells have spread through the body. Breast cancer cells are said to metastasize, for example, if they're found by a doctor in a patient's liver or brain. The process of this happening is known as metastasis. Both words come from the Late Latin metastasis, or "transition," with the Greek root word metastasis, "removal, migration, change, or revolution."
Vocabulary lists containing metastasize
The Kite Runner
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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The Fault in Our Stars
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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:
That’s manifested in a widespread selloff that has started to metastasize beyond purveyors of enterprise software offerings.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 14, 2026
But, he said, he could be among those patients whose cancers do not produce elevated PSA levels or whose more aggressive cancers rapidly grow and metastasize within a matter of months.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2025
AJ: Dr. King predicted that if America did not address the cancer of bigotry, it would metastasize and bring down the nation.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2024
The stem cell-like state of cancer cells that do not express the androgen receptor, as well as their ability to migrate, invade and metastasize, were significantly reduced following the silencing of the SIX2 gene.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2024
Without those limitations, copyright law will bloat and metastasize into a claim of monopoly, or at least control, over the very architectures of our communications technology.
From The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by Boyle, James
Vice works well only when localized, and not metastasized across every sector of life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
Although he went into remission, the cancer later returned and metastasized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2025
Investors’ minds inevitably flashed back to 2008, when the implosion of the U.S. mortgage-backed securities market quickly metastasized globally.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2025
A bureaucratic error had metastasized into a kind of social sentence.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2025
Others mistook malignant changes for infection, sending women home with antibiotics only to have them return later, dying from metastasized cancer.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Sakaguchi said that he wanted to continue researching how to enhance immune responses in cancer and to potentially prevent cancer cells from spreading and metastasizing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025
If left untreated, it typically migrates through the optic nerve to the brain, eventually metastasizing and taking the life of the child.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2025
Prof Rahul Roychoudhuri, from the University of Cambridge, told me: "What we've discovered is that aspirin might work, surprisingly, by unleashing the power of the immune system to recognize and kill metastasizing cancer cells."
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2025
But there is a simmering rage in the electorate, and it is metastasizing.
From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2024
I imagined the tumor metastasizing into my own bones, boring holes into my skeleton, a slithering eel of insidious intent.
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
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.
