(pronounced meh-TAS-teh-sIz)

Most often used to describe the proliferation of cancer within someone’s body, this word, which means to expand or grow out from an existing site, is also used to describe the spreading of (often) negative concepts, attitudes, opinions, etc.

Example: Once the idea took hold within the management team that the firm couldn’t survive the slowing economy without laying off several team members, it was only a matter of days before poor morale metastasized throughout all of the project teams, leading to low productivity, high tension and heated arguments.