metastasize

Verb

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

1. (British, English, Oxford, US, specifically, transitive) Of a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to form a metastasis (“a secondary focus away from the primary site”) in (a body organ).
   • "I remember the first time he woke up throwing up, and my first thought wasn't, 'Oh he has the stomach flu,'" she [Rene McNall-Knapp] said. "It was, 'Oh, it's gone to his brain, and it's metastasized his brain, and he's throwing up because of that.'"2013 May 11, Jaclyn Cosgrove, “Fostering hope: Doctor learns about being a mother to child with cancer”, in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.: Oklahoma Pub. Co., →OCLC, archived from the original...
2. (British, English, Oxford, US, figuratively, transitive) To disseminate or spread (something, often an undesirable thing), especially in a destructive manner.
   • In a broader sense, criticism as a form is in trouble. And celebrities like [Ariana] Grande, like [Michael] Che, like [Olivia] Munn, who swat at it to the delight of their fans, concerningly seem to metastasize the problem.2019 April 26, Richard Lawson, “Why Critics Worry about Criticism”, in Radhika Jones, editor, Vanity Fair, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Apr 2023
3. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive, specifically) 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”).
   • 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.1988 October, Margaret Atwood, chapter 21, in Cat's Eye (A Seal Book), Toronto, Ont.: McClelland-Bantam, published October 1989, →ISBN, page 119
   • Your lump could be a secondary cancer metastasized from the bowel. I had a patient like that not long ago.2001, David Lodge, chapter 28, in Thinks … […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Penguin, →ISBN, page 276
4. (British, English, Oxford, US, figuratively, intransitive) Of a thing, often one which is undesirable: to disseminate or spread, especially in a destructive manner.
   • Late last month, a conservative website called The Federalist published an article advocating that healthy, young Americans deliberately infect themselves with Covid-19, […] If enough Americans expose themselves to the virus and become immune, the theory goes, the country would have a mobilized...2020 April 12, Kathryn Olivarius, “The dangerous history of immunoprivilege”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Jan 2026