cancer
//ˈkænsə//
Forms
- Plural
- cancers
- Comparative
- more cancer
- Superlative
- most cancer
Definitions
1.A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (often rapid) proliferation.
- Almost half of the participants agreed that "It seems like everything causes cancer"..
- Sure, almost everything 'causes cancer' now. That said, I don't go hugging nuclear waste or acting like cancer itself is some conspiracy.
- 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.
2.Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
- The disease of the self runs through my blood; It's a cancer fatal to my soul.
- The following day, Mr. [Stephen K.] Bannon called Mr. [Ben] Shapiro a “cancer” on the movement, and Ms. [Megyn] Kelly said she resented Mr. Shapiro’s attacks.
- 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.
3.Someone with a Cancer star sign.
- ‘All right, so what are Cancers apart from sad, then?’ Lizzie asked.
1.Extremely unpleasant and annoying.(offensive)
- I used to love this game, but the new meta is straight up cancer.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1043
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Word family
Etymology
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.