In a manner that is cancerous, spreading destructively like cancer, or relating to a malignant disease.
From 'cancerous' (adjective) plus the adverbial suffix '-ly'. The base 'cancerous' derives from Latin 'cancer' and came into medical English by the 1600s.
This adverb turns a disease name into a metaphor for corruption—politicians and social critics use 'cancerously' to describe how corruption spreads through institutions like malignant cells through a body.
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