Cancerous

//ˈkænsəɹəs// adj, slang

adj, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Relating to or affected with cancer.

    "On Sunday at five they operated to remove the cancerous kidney."

  2. 2
    Growing or spreading rapidly to the point of harm. figuratively
  3. 3
    Extremely unpleasant; detestable. slang

    "I love this show, but the fanbase is so toxic and cancerous."

Adjective
  1. 1
    like a cancer; an evil that grows and spreads wordnet
  2. 2
    relating to or affected with cancer wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aidsallergicanemicarthriticbiliouscancer

Example

More examples

"My doctor thinks it's cancerous but told me to feel free to get a second opinion."

Etymology

From Middle English cancerous, from Latin cancerōsus, from cancer (“crab; tumor, cancer”) + -ōsus (adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, cancer + -ous.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.