Definition of "metastasize" []

• To be transmitted or transferred by metastasis. (verb-intransitive)
• To be changed or transformed, especially dangerously: "a need for love that would metastasize into an insatiable craving for attention” ( Michiko Kakutani). (verb-intransitive)
• To spread, especially destructively: "[disinformation] ... that even now continues to metastasize ... to such a degree that myth threatens to overthrow history” ( Gore Vidal). (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Moving on to Europe, Huntsman used the word "metastasize" to describe the euro crisis."
• "Then Rick Perry is asked a similar question – and he doesn't use the word "metastasize"."
• "You take out the main operational leader and then the cells kind of metastasize and become harder targets because they're dispersed."