malignant.

1. Describing a cancerous growth capable of invasive behavior and potentially spreading beyond its original site.

2. Showing intense ill will or exerting a seriously harmful influence.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a malignant tumor
• malignant cells

On the page

The tests showed that the growth was malignant.

She read the phrase malignant cells twice before asking what it meant.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror. Forms: Medical classification is non-gradable; more or most malignant can occur in figurative evaluation. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.