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Glite Dictionary
anticancer

anticancer

4.2
A medicine that helps prevent or treat cancer
  • adjective
  • /ˌæn.tiˈkæn.sɚ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : anticancerígeno
  • Doctors recommend an anticancer diet rich in fruits and vegetables to enhance treatment effectiveness.
  • anticancer agent

Examples

  • He's sharing samples with researchers across the globe, including Young Lin, a professor from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, who's studying gossypol as an anticancer agent.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The new drug was developed specifically as an anticancer treatment to improve patients' lives.

  • Research shows that certain foods have anticancer properties that can help reduce the risk of tumor growth.

Synonyms

antineoplastic
vsanticancer
  • Specialized
7.8

That stops or slows the growth of cancer

is used to prevent or treat cancer in general
antitumor
vsanticancer
  • Specialized
4.6

Stopping or slowing the growth of tumors, especially cancerous ones

is used more broadly to prevent or treat cancer beyond just tumors
chemotherapeutical
vsanticancer
  • Specialized
7.7

Used to describe treatment that uses strong drugs to kill cancer cells

is used for preventing or treating cancer generally, not only drug therapies

How Effective

potent
119 5.5
anticancer
  • Specialized
4.2
effective
986 3.1
weak
22 1.3
inactive
  • Specialized
1 6.0

Surface Forms

anticancer positive

Morphology

anticancer = cancer (transparent) = anti + cancer

The word transparently means 'against cancer' or 'used to treat cancer' through the productive prefix anti- plus cancer.

Etymology

Anticancer combines anti- meaning 'against' (as in antibiotic) and cancer, a disease whose name comes from the Latin word for 'crab' because people long ago thought some tumors looked like a crab, so anticancer describes a drug or treatment that works 'against cancer'.