Metastasize

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(pronounced muh-tas-tuh-syz)  verb

Definition

1. to spread or grow by or as if by metastasis. 2. to spread, especially damagingly or destructively. 3. to transform, especially into something harmful or destructive.

Metastasis = the spread of disease-producing microorganisms (such as cancer cells) from the original or primary site to other parts of the body.

Main Example

• There seems to be no end in sight to the war between Russia and Ukraine. With the U.S. and its allies continuing to supply sophisticated weapons to the latter, several analysts have voiced the fear that the conflict in Europe could metastasize into a direct military clash between NATO and Russia, one with unthinkable nuclear ramifications.

Workplace Examples

• Some higher-up ought to quickly confront the issue of employees taking two-hour lunch breaks...before this sort of goofing off metastasizes and becomes an epidemic.

• Jim's concern for always looking neat and well-dressed has metastasized into an obsession of late. For instance, he goes into the men's restroom every 15 or 20 minutes to straighten his tie and to make sure every hair is in its proper place.

Other Examples

• a manager saying indignantly: "The cost reduction committee was set up solely to cut down on power consumption. But thanks to its aggressive chairperson, the committee's charter has somehow metastasized into a heady ambition to interfere with every type of administrative activity."
• after completing a tiresome form to claim a particular deduction on his tax return, a colleague complaining: "Thanks to some obscure new law passed by Congress, this form, which was barely three lines long just a few years ago, has metastasized into a daunting two pages filled with all sorts of complex calculations."
• someone who has only a few months to live at most because her melanoma skin cancer has metastasized throughout the body; some cancers that are more likely to metastasize than others
• a trend that started in the 1990s with some large, profitable corporations shrinking, if not altogether eliminating, employee retirement benefits now steadily metastasizing into a nationwide corporate practice

• as the financial crisis deepened in 2007-2008 and the federal government started bailing out large banks, many Americans protesting vehemently, claiming that such financial help will quickly metastasize into government controlling all large banks, auto companies, and any other industry it deemed "too big to fail"

• Within three years of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., both the CIA and the 9/11 Commission confirmed that Saddam Hussein had absolutely no role in those terrorist attacks. Yet, until just a few years ago, polls showed that a majority of Americans continued to believe that the converse was true. This is an example of how repeated assertions of a falsehood by some prominent Americans, esp. those with ready access to a media mouthpiece, can help an unfounded notion metastasize into a widely held belief.

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