metastasize
/mɪˈtæstəsaɪz/
metastasize means of a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to form a metastasis (“a secondary focus away from the primary site”) in (a body organ). It carries an Arena rating of 1321, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, metastasize ranks #27 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #118 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,267 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #1,285 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say.
metastasize is pronounced /mɪˈtæstəsaɪz/.
Why “metastasize” is a great word
To spread from a primary site to distant parts of the body, forming secondary, malignant growths. From metastasis, from Late Latin metastasis ("rapid transition"), from Koine Greek μετάστασις (metástasis, "change of position, removal"), from μετά- (meta-, "change") + στάσις (stasis, "a standing, condition"); the verb form metastasize is attested from 1826. Unlike "proliferate," which suggests rapid growth without the necessary implication of invasion, or "disseminate," a neutral scattering of seeds or ideas, to metastasize names a sinister, cellular colonization. It is the silent breach from a single tumor into the lymph and blood, the sudden, devastating bloom of pain in the bone or the brain, and the grim geography of a shadow-map spreading across a scan—the body’s own architecture turned against itself in a fatal migration.
Etymology
From metastasis + -ize (suffix forming verbs meaning to do things denoted by the adjectives or nouns the suffix is attached to). Metastasis is a learned borrowing from Late Latin metastasis (“(rhetoric) rapid or sudden transition from one argument, point, or topic to another”), and from its etymons Koine Greek μετάστασις (metástasis, “(rhetoric) rapid or sudden transition from one argument, point, or topic to another”) and Ancient Greek μετάστασις (metástasis, “change; removal; (medicine) movement of disease, pain, etc., from one part of the body to another”), from μετᾰ- (metă-, prefix denoting change in condition or position) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meth₂) + στᾰ́σῐς (stắsĭs, “condition, state; position”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”)
verb
- Of a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to form a metastasis (“a secondary focus away from the primary site”) in (a body organ).
- To disseminate or spread (something, often an undesirable thing), especially in a destructive manner.
- Of a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to undergo metastasis (“spreading from a primary site to one or more other sites in the body”).
- Of a thing, often one which is undesirable: to disseminate or spread, especially in a destructive manner.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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