Cancer definition
An example of cancer is a melanoma on the arm.
An example of cancer is a wild fire.
An example of Cancer is the constellation closest to Leo and Gemini.
An example of Cancer is the zodiac sign after Gemini.
An example of Cancer is someone born on July 5th.
1999, Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, Effective Writing, page 134:Sierra Leone's post-dictator problems are almost absurd in their breadth. It once exported rice; now it can't feed itself. The life span of the average citizen is 39, the shortest in Africa. Unemployment stands at 87 percent and tuberculosis is spreading out of control. Corruption, brazen and ubiquitous, is a cancer on the economy.
A cancer of bigotry spread through the community.
Other Word Forms
Noun
Origin of cancer
- Middle English from Latin canker
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- Middle English canker
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Latin cancer (“crab”), from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkinos, “crab”); applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab.
From Wiktionary
- From Latin cancer (“crab”), from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkinos, “crab”).
From Wiktionary