Word.ws English Dictionary

Synonyms of cancer

5 similar words

Another word for cancer is malignancy. Other synonyms of cancer are growth, lichen, cancerous and AIDS.

Synonyms and similar words for cancer

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

  • malignancyA malignant cancer; specifically, any neoplasm that is invasive or otherwise not benign.

nounSomething damaging that spreads throughout something else.

  • growth
  • lichenSomething which gradually spreads across something else, causing damage.

adjectiveExtremely unpleasant and annoying.

  • cancerous slangExtremely unpleasant; detestable.
  • AIDS slangExtremely annoying or frustrating.

Meaning of cancer

  1. noun A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (often rapid) proliferation.
  2. noun Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
  3. adjective Extremely unpleasant and annoying.

Full definition of cancer

cancer in other languages

Questions about synonyms of cancer

What is another word for cancer?
Cancer has 5 synonyms on Word.ws, such as malignancy, growth, lichen, cancerous and AIDS.
What does cancer mean?
Cancer means a disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (often rapid) proliferation.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cancer (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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