Word.ws English Dictionary

cancer

/ˈkænsə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈkæːnsə/

cancer noun: a disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (often rapid) proliferation.

Noun (1)

cancer (countable and uncountable, plural cancers)

  1. A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (often rapid) proliferation.
    • She's ill. She's dying. She has cancer of the pancreas, stomach, just about everywhere... She's been dying for about six years now. We're getting used to it.1999 February 3, Anthony Horowitz et al., “Strangler's Wood”, in Midsomer Murders
    • If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the[…]hazards of gasoline cars: air and water pollution, noise and noxiousness, constant coughing and the undeniable rise in cancers caused by smoke exhaust particulates.2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion
    Synonyms:
    malignancy
  2. (figuratively) Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
    • I began by telling the President that there was a cancer growing on the Presidency, and if the cancer was not removed, the President himself would be killed by it.1973 June 25, John Dean
    • The disease of the self runs through my blood; It's a cancer fatal to my soul.1991, Charlie Peacock, “In the Light”
    Synonyms:
    growth, lichen

Adjective

cancer (comparative more cancer, superlative most cancer)

  1. (offensive, slang, vulgar) Extremely unpleasant and annoying.
    • I used to love this game, but the new meta is straight up cancer.
    Synonyms:
    cancerous, AIDS

Proper noun capitalized: Cancer

Cancer

  1. A constellation of the zodiac traditionally figured in the shape of a crab.
    • And add more coals to Cancer when he burns / With entertaining great Hyperion.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • Cancer was occupied by a scarab in Egypt, so the general shape of animal may have been suggested by Praesepe.1998, John H. Roger, “Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions”, in Journal of the British Astronomy Association, volume 108, number 1, page 27, column 2
    Synonyms:
    Crab
  2. The zodiac sign for the crab, ruled by the Moon and covering June 22–July 22 (tropical astrology) or July 16–August 15 (sidereal astrology).

Noun (2) capitalized: Cancer

Cancer (plural Cancers)

  1. Someone with a Cancer star sign.
    • ‘All right, so what are Cancers apart from sad, then?’ Lizzie asked.2022, Candice Carty-Williams, People Person, Trapeze, page 189
    Synonyms:
    Cancerian

cancer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

cancer in Hindi

disease of uncontrolled cellular proliferation
कर्कट karkaṭ, कैंसर kainsar, कर्कट रोग karkaṭ rog

cancer in Tamil

disease of uncontrolled cellular proliferation
புற்றுநோய் puṟṟunōy

cancer in Marathi

disease of uncontrolled cellular proliferation
कर्करोग karkarog

cancer in Urdu

disease of uncontrolled cellular proliferation
سَرْطان sartān, کَینْسَر kainsar
More languagesFewer languages
cancer in Bengali
ক্যান্সার kênśar, কর্কটরোগ korkṭorōg
cancer in Telugu
కాన్సర్ kānsar
cancer in Malayalam
അർബുദം aṟbudaṁ, കാൻസർ kāṉsaṟ
cancer in Kannada
ಅರ್ಬುದ arbuda, ಕ್ಯಾನ್ಸರ್ kyānsar
cancer in Punjabi
ਕੈਂਸਰ kainsar
cancer in Gujarati
કર્કરોગ karkarog
cancer in Odia
କର୍କଟ karkaṭa
cancer in Sinhala
පිළිකා piḷikā
cancer in Assamese
কৰ্কট korkot, কৰ্কট ৰোগ korkot rüg
cancer in Nepali
क्यान्सर kyānsar
cancer in Pashto
سرطان saratān
cancer in Tagalog
kanser
cancer in Arabic
سَرَطَان saraṭān
cancer in Malay
barah, kanser, kanker
cancer in Indonesian
kanker
cancer in Persian
سرطان saratân, خرچنگ xarčang, چنگار čangâr, کنسر kanser
cancer in Thai
มะเร็ง má-reng
cancer in Vietnamese
ung thư
cancer in Myanmar
ကင်ဆာရောဂါ kanghcarau:ga, ကင်ဆာ kanghca
Dhivehi
ކެންސަރު ken̊saru

Examples of cancer in a sentence

  • Sure, almost everything 'causes cancer' now. That said, I don't go hugging nuclear waste or acting like cancer itself is some conspiracy.
  • From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins.2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 11 Jan 2025, page 76:
  • Cancers are common diseases; in the aggregate, they are among the leading causes of death nationally and worldwide, and their incidence is increasing as the population ages.2015 February 26, Francis S. Collins, Harold Varmus, “A New Initiative on Precision Medicine”, in The New England Journal of Medicine...
  • Almost half of the participants agreed that "It seems like everything causes cancer"...2022 December 21, Laura Costas et al., “Everything Causes Cancer?...”, in British Medical Journal:
  • Corruption, brazen and ubiquitous, is a cancer on the economy.1999, Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, Effective Writing, page 134:

All 40 example sentences with cancer

Synonyms of cancer

Antonyms

All synonyms of cancer

Forms of cancer

Noun
pluralcancers
pluralCancers
Adjective
comparativemore cancer
superlativemost cancer
Proper noun
symbol♋︎

Plural of cancer: cancers

Origin of cancer

Borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab”), a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”), possibly cognate, applied to cancerous tumors because of a supposed resemblence between their enlarged veins and the legs of a crab. Doublet of canker and chancre.

Learned borrowing from Latin cancer (“crab”), calque of Ancient Greek Καρκίνος (Karkínos, “crab”), calque of Akkadian 𒀀𒇻𒌅 (allutu, “crab”), from Sumerian 𒀯𒀠𒈜 (ᵐᵘˡAL.LUL, “crab; name of constellation”).

Words formed from cancer

Phrases with cancer

25 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with cancer

Questions about cancer

What does cancer mean?
Cancer means a disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (often rapid) proliferation.
What is cancer in Hindi?
Cancer in Hindi is कर्कट (karkaṭ), कैंसर (kainsar), कर्कट रोग (karkaṭ rog). See Cancer meaning in Hindi.
How do you use cancer in a sentence?
Sure, almost everything 'causes cancer' now. That said, I don't go hugging nuclear waste or acting like cancer itself is some conspiracy.
What part of speech is cancer?
Cancer can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce cancer?
Cancer is pronounced /ˈkænsə/ (UK).
What is the plural of cancer?
The plural of cancer is cancers.

Words near cancer in the dictionary

  1. cancels
  2. cancels out
  3. cancels someone's Christmas
  4. Cancemini
  5. Canceo
  6. cancer
  7. cancer bush
  8. cancer bushes
  9. cancer cell
  10. cancer cells
  11. cancer root

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cancer (page history and authors); Cancer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cancer.ogg, En-uk-cancer.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cancer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cancer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.