malignant Hear it!

malignant Definition

ma·lig·nant (-nənt)

adjective

  1. having an evil influence; malign
  2. wishing evil; very malevolent or malicious
  3. very harmful
  4. very dangerous or virulent; causing or likely to cause death; not benign; specif., cancerous
  5. Obsolete malcontent; rebellious; disaffected

Etymology: LL malignans (gen. malignantis), prp. of malignare: see malign

noun

Archaic a malcontent

malignant Related Forms
ma·lig·nantly adverb
malignant Synonyms

malignant

modif.

  1. Diseased

    cancerous, fatal, lethal, deadly, poisonous, destructive, internecine, mortal, pestilential; see also deadly, poisonous.

  2. Harmful

    deleterious, corrupt, sapping; see dangerous 1, 2, harmful.

malignant Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • melanoma: Can develop a malignant melanoma in very rare cases.
  • neoplasm: A cancer is the commonly used term for a malignant neoplasm.
  • mesothelioma: Most people with malignant mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they breathed asbestos.
  • glioma: AB - BACKGROUND: Topotecan activity was evaluated for the treatment of malignant glioma.
  • tumor: Five of the six patients proved to have malignant tumors.
  • tumor: Prostate Cancer is a malignant tumor in the prostate of men.

Modifying Another Word

  • potentially: Some potentially malignant lesions can be managed by regular review, with or without medical treatment.
  • highly: The implanted tumors develop into large, highly malignant brain tumors in the puppies.
  • not: These growths are often called tumors but are usually not malignant or cancer.
  • particularly: The effects of asbestos related illness particularly malignant mesothelioma which is a terminal illness is obviously devastating upon the individual and their family.
  • very: The form originating from collecting ducts is highly infrequent and very malignant with the five-year survival in 20 % only.
  • occasionally: It is occasionally malignant with local recurrence and pulmonary spread.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: A few in every 1,000 of these may become malignant.
  • differentiate: We came to the conclusion that in diagnosing patients with abnormal uterine cavity, MR imaging may help differentiate malignant from benign disorders.
  • consider: GAN tumors are fatal and must be considered malignant.
  • call: Sometimes a tumor is called malignant when it is a cancer, but malignant hypertension is not cancer.