metastasis

noun4

1. •
   The transference of a bodily function or disease to another part of the body, specifically the development of a secondary area of disease remote from the original site, as with some cancers.

   • Among the hypothesized diagnoses was metastatic carcinoma. In metastatic cancer, metastases are most frequent in the axial skeleton and are rare in the distal parts of the appendicular skeleton[…]. — 2023
2. •
   (figurative) The spread of something harmful to another location, such as the metastasis of a cancer.
3. •
   A change in nature, form, or quality.

   • Stayed in her own house, searched her body each morning and examined her conscience each night for progressive symptoms of the metastasis she feared was in her. — 1963
4. •
   (rhetoric) A sudden or rapid transition from one point, topic or argument to another, often to evade an uncomfortable subject or to redirect the discussion.