malignancy

/məˈlɪɡnənsi/ (bre, ipa) · /məˈlɪɡnənsi/ (ame, ipa) · /mə-ˈlig-nən(t)-sē/ (ame, mw)

malignancy — noun

  • malignancysingular
  • malignanciesplural

1. a dangerous growth of cells inside the body that keeps spreading and can lead to

1.名詞C1
釋義

a dangerous growth of cells inside the body that keeps spreading and can lead to death if it is not treated

例句

The doctors found a small malignancy in Sayaka's left breast during her yearly check-up.

collocation: find / discover a malignancy in [body part]

Surgeons removed the malignancy from Ezra's lung and started him on weekly chemotherapy.

collocation: remove a malignancy from [body part]

同義詞
  • tumour

    broader: any abnormal lump, harmful or harmless; 'malignancy' is always harmful

  • cancer

    everyday word for the same idea; 'malignancy' is the formal medical equivalent

  • carcinoma

    a specific type of malignancy that starts in skin or organ-lining tissue

反義詞

文法句型

a malignancy in/on [body part]

remove a malignancy

用法筆記

Often used in medical reports and doctor-patient conversation as a more clinical word for 'cancer'. Countable when referring to a specific tumour; uncountable when discussing whether cancer is present at all (e.g. 'no signs of malignancy').

常見錯誤

❌She has a malignancy disease.
✅She has a malignancy.
💡'malignancy' is itself the noun; do not add 'disease' after it.
❌The doctor found malignancies on her skin pimple.
✅The doctor found a malignancy in her skin.
💡use it for serious cancer growths, not for ordinary spots or pimples.

2. the quality of an illness, especially cancer, that makes it spread quickly and b

2.名詞C2
釋義

the quality of an illness, especially cancer, that makes it spread quickly and become very hard to cure

例句

Doctors were shocked by the malignancy of the brain tumour found in young Adina.

the malignancy of + [tumour / disease]

Blood tests in the new lab can show the malignancy of a tumour in only two hours.

show / measure / assess the malignancy of [tumour]

同義詞
  • virulence

    more often about infections; emphasises how fast and harmfully something attacks the body

  • aggressiveness

    everyday term doctors use with patients for the same idea

反義詞
  • benignity

    the quality of being harmless and slow-growing

文法句型

the malignancy of [disease/condition]

用法筆記

Uncountable abstract noun referring to how aggressive a disease is, not the growth itself. Distinguish from sense 1: sense 1 is a thing you can remove; sense 2 is a property you can measure.

常見錯誤

❌The tumour has a malignancy.
✅The tumour shows malignancy.' / 'The tumour has high malignancy.
💡this sense is uncountable and a quality of the disease, not a thing it 'has'.
❌The malignancies of cancer surprised the doctors.
✅The malignancy of the cancer surprised the doctors.
💡no plural form in this abstract sense.