malignant
Syllabification: (ma·lig·nant)
Pronunciation: /məˈlignənt/
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Definition of malignant
adjective
- (of a tumor) tending to invade normal tissue or to recur after removal; cancerous. Contrasted with benign.
Origin:
mid 16th century (also in the sense 'likely to rebel against God or authority'): from late Latin malignant- 'contriving maliciously', from the verb malignare. The term was used in its early sense to describe those sympathetic to the royalist cause during the English Civil War (1642–49)