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metastasis

Pronunciation: /mɪˈtastəsɪs/

Definition of metastasis

noun (plural metastases /-siːz/)

[mass noun] Medicine

the development of secondary malignant growths at a distance from a primary site of cancer: an increased risk of metastasis
[count noun] a metastatic growth: the patient developed pleural and liver metastases

Derivatives

metastatic

Origin:

late 16th century (as a rhetorical term, meaning 'rapid transition from one point to another'): from Greek, literally 'removal or change', from methistanai 'to change'