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to metastasize

to metastasize

19 8.6
Spread from one part of the body to other parts
  • verb
  • /mɪˈtæstəˌsaɪz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : hacer metástasis
  • After several months of treatment, they learned that his cancer had metastasized to his liver.
  • cancer metastasizes
  • tumors metastasize
  • metastasize to the parotid

But if they then become, if they spread, metastasize, they're deadly.

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Examples

  • But just this January, we discovered that the cancer had metastasized, that it had spread to my brain and to my lungs.

  • I'm removing a metastasized testicular growth.

  • It's metastasized to his brain.

  • - It's metastasized in my bones.

  • Thus, by the time lung cancer is diagnosed, it has often metastasized elsewhere in the body.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Cancers become almost incurable once they metastasize, and cancer is incredibly complex.

  • What he died of was cancer: colon cancer metastasized to the liver.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Among tumors, carcinomas tend to metastasize to bone more frequently than sarcomas.

    Academic text (2006)
  • We report a new case, which occurred in a 48-year-old woman whose disease had metastasized to regional lymph nodes.

    Academic text (2003)
  • In this article, we describe a case of cutaneous leiomyosarcoma of the face that metastasized to the lung.

    Academic text (2001)

How Widespread

to metastasize
  • Specialized
19 8.6
to localize
  • US
23 4.8

Surface Forms

metastasize infinitive
metastasized past participle
metastasizing present participle
metastasizes third person singular

Morphology

metastasize = metastasis (semi-transparent) = metastasis + ize

The verb is formed regularly from the medical noun 'metastasis' with '-ize', but the meaning is specialized and not readily inferable for most learners.

Etymology

Metastasize comes from the Greek parts meta- meaning 'beyond' or 'change' and -stasis meaning 'standing' or 'placement', the same idea in the word static. So, it literally means 'change place', which helps: when cancer metastasizes it 'moves' or spreads from the first spot to other parts of the body.