n, pl  -ta*ses   :  change of position, state, or form: as  a  :  transfer of a disease-producing agency (as cancer cells or bacteria) from an original site of disease to another part of the body with development of a similar lesion in the new location < in the lung usually occurs by way of the blood stream -J. B. Amberson>  <metastases of breast cancer to bone -Medical Physics>   b  :  a secondary metastatic growth of a malignant tumor .
 
 
 
Similar sounding terms:  me·tas·ta·size 
 
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