Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - metastasis

 noun  (plural metastases)  Etymology: New Latin, from Late Latin, transition, from Greek, from methistanai to change, from meta- + histanai to set — more at stand  Date: 1663  1.  a. change of position, state, or form  b. the spread of a disease-producing agency (as cancer cells) from the initial or primary site of disease to another part of the body; also the process by which such spreading occurs  2. a secondary malignant tumor resulting from ~  • metastatic adjective  • metastatically adverb