noun
chemo
KEE-moh
noun
1
Short for chemotherapy, a medical treatment that uses drugs to destroy cancer cells.
"She started her first round of chemo in March."
"His hair fell out after a few weeks of chemo."
verb
1
To treat someone with chemotherapy.
"Doctors decided to chemo the tumour before considering surgery."
How to Use Chemo
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe everyday short form of "chemotherapy", the drug treatment used against cancer.
When to use it
Very common in spoken and informal written English; "chemotherapy" is the formal medical term.
Common pairings
a round of chemo
chemo treatment
undergo chemo
Word Forms
chemoed past tense, chemos singular
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She started her first round of _____ in March.