tumour
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tumour, also spelled tumor, also called neoplasm, a mass of abnormal tissue that arises without obvious cause from preexisting body cells, has no purposeful function, and is characterized by a tendency to independent and unrestrained growth. Tumours are quite different from inflammatory or other swellings because the cells in tumours are abnormal in appearance and other characteristics. Abnormal cells—the kind that generally make up tumours—differ from normal cells in having undergone one or more of the following alterations: (1) hypertrophy, or an increase in the size of individual cells; this feature is occasionally encountered in tumours but occurs commonly in ...(100 of 812 words)