malignance

/məˈlɪɡnəns/

Malignance is a medical term that's most often used to talk about a malignant — or cancerous — tumor. It's bad news when a surgeon discovers a malignance in a patient.

You can use malignance when you talk about cancer, but you can also use it to mean the quality of being evil or of wishing ill will on someone. If a student feels malignance toward his entire class, he dislikes them all. You might wonder if war and other conflicts can ever be ended as long as groups of people feel such malignance toward other groups. The root of malignance is the Late Latin word malignantem, "injure maliciously."

Definitions of malignance

1. noun

   (medicine) a malignant state; progressive and resistant to treatment and tending to cause death
   synonyms: malignancy

   types:

   malignant neoplasm, malignant tumor, metastatic tumor

   a tumor that is malignant and tends to spread to other parts of the body

   carcinosarcoma

   a malignant neoplasm composed of carcinoma and sarcoma extensively intermixed

   cancer, malignant neoplastic disease

   any malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division; it may spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or the blood stream

   angiosarcoma

   a rare malignant neoplasm arising from vascular tissue; usually occurs in the breast and skin and is believed to originate from the endothelial cells of blood vessels

   myeloma

   a tumor of the bone marrow (usually malignant) composed of cells normally found in bone marrow

   neuroblastoma

   malignant tumor containing embryonic nerve cells; usually metastasizes quickly

   neuroepithelioma

   malignant tumor of the neuroepithelium

   retinoblastoma

   malignant ocular tumor of retinal cells; usually occurs before the third year of life; composed of primitive small round retinal cells

   type of:

   disease

   an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning
2. noun

   the quality of being disposed to evil; intense ill will
   synonyms: malignancy, malignity

   type of:

   evil, evilness

   the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice