Glossary
benign
Benign describes something that is not cancerous and not harmful in itself, or a condition that runs a mild course.
Benign means not malignant: a growth that stays where it is, does not invade surrounding tissue and does not spread. It is the opposite of malignant, and the pair is the one to hold together, because a question asking what a report means turns on that distinction rather than on the words’ everyday looseness. The same word is used more widely for anything that is not dangerous — a benign murmur, a benign course — so the sentence decides which sense applies. Note that benign is not the same as harmless in every context: a benign tumor can still press on a structure, and the exam may reward the precise reading.
Taught in
Related terms
- context clue — A context clue is information in the sentence around an unknown word that narrows what the word means — a definition, a restatement, a contrast, an example, a consequence or the general sense.
- word part — A word part is a prefix, root, suffix or combining vowel — one of the pieces a medical word is built from.
Source: MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine) consumer guidance on understanding medical words, which the vocabulary guide follows for the prefix, root, suffix and combining-vowel system. US federal government material, not subject to copyright in the United States. Every definition and example above was written for this course in our own words; no dictionary or glossary text is reproduced. (MedlinePlus accessed 2026-10-27; definitions written 2026-10-27)