metastatic

American  

[met-uh-stat-ik] / ˌmɛt əˈstæt ɪk /

adjective

1. Pathology. of, relating to, or resulting from metastasis, the transference of disease-producing organisms or malignant or cancerous cells to other parts of the body by way of the blood or lymphatic vessels or membranous surfaces.

   These blood vessels supply the tumor with nutrients and facilitate its metastatic spread.

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Other Word Forms

• metastatically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of metastatic

First recorded in 1760–70; metasta(sis) ( def. ) + -tic ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

metastatic

The study, published in Nature Cancer, included patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic cancer.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026

Sarah's medical cause of death was recorded as "metastatic signet ring adenocarcinoma of the appendix".

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Because of this dependence, androgen receptor inhibitors are a mainstay of treatment for metastatic prostate cancer.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026

About half of patients with metastatic melanoma will get worse on first-line immunotherapies within a year, at which point they have scant options.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

She had died in 1958, at the age of thirty-seven, from diffusely metastatic ovarian cancer—an illness ultimately linked to mutations in genes.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee