malignancy
/məˈlɪɡnənsi
/noun (plural malignancies) [mass noun]
1The state or presence of a malignant tumour; cancer: after biopsy, evidence of malignancy was found...
- We found no evidence of malignancy, but dysplastic changes were present in the glandular cells.
- Poor prognostic indicators include poorly responsive disease, delay in diagnosis and the presence of malignancy.
- Examination of cells under the microscope to identify the presence of malignancy.
1.1 [count noun] A cancerous growth: a malignancy had been removed from the left ventricle...
- Can prolonged administration of endothelial antiapoptotic agents influence the growth of malignancies?
- Alternatively, infiltrating microglia near a focus of radiation necrosis may be mistaken for a malignancy in a treated glioma.
- When the mutation occurs in a cell, it essentially takes the brakes off the cell's growth, causing a malignancy.
1.2 [count noun] A form of cancer: diffuse malignancies such as leukaemia...
- The most common clinical presentation of urachal malignancy is hematuria, especially in carcinomas.
- Patients with this malignancy most often present with a cervical mass from metastatic spread to a lymph node.
- A child with this malignancy can present acutely with severe dyspnea and, occasionally, superior vena cava syndrome.
2The quality of being malign: her eyes sparkled with renewed malignancy...
- By the very nature of what it is, Empires are malignant, not benign though they cloak this malignancy with shallow kindness.
- We know we harbor the same malignancy and malice, the same greed and injustice that we detest in others.
- I get angry, but I don't hate because hate causes malignancy in me, not the person I'm hating.
