Malignancy Meaning
/məˈlɪɡ.nən.si/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe state of being malignant or diseased.
nounA malignant cancer; specifically, any neoplasm that is invasive or otherwise not benign.
Sentence Examples
The doctor diagnosed a malignancy in her breast tissue.
The tumor's malignancy required immediate surgical removal.
The biopsy showed no signs of tumor malignancy.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The biopsy confirmed the ____ of the tumor, meaning it was cancerous.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The biopsy confirmed the ____ of the tumor, which meant that the patient needed immediate treatment today.
Word Origin & History
From malignant + -cy or malign + -ancy or Latin malignantia.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[T]he malignancie of my fate, might perhaps diſtemper yours; […]"
— c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 260, column 1:
"A cold wind swept down from it and set us shivering. Somewhere there, on that desolate plain, was lurking this fiendish man, hiding in a burrow like a wild beast, his heart full of malignancy against the whole race which had cast him out."
— 1901 August – 1902 April, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Baskerville Hall”, in The Hound of the Baskervilles: Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, London: George Newnes, […], published 1902, →OCLC, page 115:
"Because of the dearth of recent feminist writing about conditions in mental institutions, it's possible for us to image that they must have improved since the mid-'70s. Millett reminds us forcefully of the hellishness and malignancy of these places, where mind-altering drugs are prescribed punitively or at random, attendants are abusive, food is unhealthy, and numbing boredom, ugliness, pain and filth prevail."
— 1990 August 31, Amy Hoffman, “"Crazy" Or Just Crazy?”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 7, page 11:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The biopsy confirmed the ____ of the tumor, meaning it was cancerous.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The biopsy confirmed the ____ of the tumor, which meant that the patient needed immediate treatment today.