metastasize

English

Alternative forms

• metastasise

Etymology

From metastasis +‎ -ize.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɪˈtæstəsʌɪz/

Verb

metastasize (third-person singular simple present metastasizes, present participle metastasizing, simple past and past participle metastasized)

1. (medicine, of a disease or tumour) To spread to other sites in the body; to undergo metastasis.
   • 1989, Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye:

     On other screens are closeups of skin pores, before and after, details of regimes for everything, your hands, your neck, your thighs. Your elbows, especially your elbows: aging begins at the elbows and metastasizes.

   • 2001, David Lodge, Thinks...:

     ‘Your lump could be a secondary cancer metastasized from the bowel. I had a patient like that not long ago.’

Translations

to spread to other sites in the body

Catalan: metastatitzar (ca)

Spanish: metastatizar (es)