mammogram

noun

mam·​mo·​gram ˈma-mə-ˌgram 

: a photograph of the breasts made by X-rays

also : the procedure for producing a mammogram

Examples of mammogram in a Sentence

She went to the hospital for her yearly mammogram.

Recent Examples on the Web

Magazine in September 2023 that she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 after an annual mammogram. —Raven Brunner, People.com, 21 Feb. 2025

The disease typically doesn’t cause symptoms until later stages and there isn’t a routine screening for this cancer, such as a mammogram or colonoscopy. —Kaitlin Sullivan, NBC News, 19 Feb. 2025

Since losing her TennCare coverage, Gunby had to cancel a women's wellness checkup and forego a mammogram and oncologist vist. —Evan Mealins, The Tennessean, 3 Feb. 2025

But mammograms, the most common screening test for breast cancer, can miss about 50% of cancers in women with dense breasts. —Eva Epker, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin mamma "breast" + -o- + -gram — more at mamma entry 1

Note: The terms mammogram and mammography were introduced by the American physician and surgeon Nymphus Frederick Hicken (1900-98) in "Mammography: roentgenologic diagnosis of breast tumors by means of contrast media," Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, vol. 64 (1937), pp. 593-603.

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mammogram

• abraham
• anagram
• cablegram
• cofferdam
• dendrogram
• diagram
• diaphragm
• epigram
• hexagram
• histogram
• hologram
• instagram

Medical Definition

mammogram

noun

mam·​mo·​gram ˈmam-ə-ˌgram 

1

: a photograph of the breasts made by X-rays

2

: the procedure for producing a mammogram