# NCI Glossary Term API

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/glossary-api/  
**Provider:** Cancer.gov — https://apis.io/providers/cancer-gov/  
**Base URL:** https://webapis.cancer.gov/glossary/v1  
**Documentation:** https://webapis.cancer.gov/glossary/v1/

NCI Glossary Term API is one of 15 APIs that [Cancer.gov](https://apis.io/providers/cancer-gov/) publishes on the [APIs.io](https://apis.io/) network, described by a machine-readable OpenAPI specification. Tagged areas include Glossary, Terminology, Content, and Dictionary. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes an OpenAPI specification and API documentation.

Serves the NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms — the authoritative plain-language and health-professional definitions used across cancer.gov and by the NCI Dictionary Widget. Supports autosuggest, full-text search, alphabetical expansion and per-term retrieval by id or pretty URL name, in English and Spanish, for both Patient and HealthProfessional audiences. No credential required.

## Operations (8)

| Method | Path | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| GET | `/Autosuggest/{dictionary}/{audience}/{language}/{searchText}` | Search for Terms based on autosuggest criteria |
| GET | `/HealthCheck/status` | Provides an endpoint for checking that the glossary API and underlying Elasticsearch instance are in a good operational state. |
| GET | `/Terms/{dictionary}/{audience}/{language}/{id}` | Retrieve the details of a Glossary Term by ID value. |
| GET | `/Terms/{dictionary}/{audience}/{language}/{prettyUrlName}` | Get the Glossary Term based on Pretty URL Name. |
| GET | `/Terms/{dictionary}/{audience}/{language}` | Retrieves a portion of the overall set of glossary terms for a given combination of dictionary, audience, and language. |
| GET | `/Terms/search/{dictionary}/{audience}/{language}/{query}` | Search for Terms based on search criteria |
| GET | `/Terms/expand/{dictionary}/{audience}/{language}/{character}` | Get all Terms starting with the character passed. |
| GET | `/Terms/count/{dictionary}/{audience}/{language}` | Get the total number of terms available in the version of a dictionary matching a specific audience and language. |

## Machine-readable artifacts (4)

- **OpenAPI** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cancer-gov/refs/heads/main/openapi/cancer-gov-glossary-openapi.yml
- **Overlay** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cancer-gov/refs/heads/main/overlays/cancer-gov-glossary-overlay.yaml
- **SourceCode** — https://github.com/NCIOCPL/glossary-api
- **Documentation** — https://webapis.cancer.gov/glossary/v1/

## Other Cancer.gov APIs (12)

- [NCI Clinical Trials Search API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/clinical-trials-api/)
- [NCI Genomic Data Commons (GDC) API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/gdc-api/)
- [NCI SEER API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/seer-api/)
- [NCI MoDaC API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/modac-api/)
- [NCI EVS Terminology API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/evs-api/)
- [NCI Content Syndication Services](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/syndication-services/)
- [Cancer.gov Diseases API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/cancer-gov-diseases-api/)
- [Cancer.gov Interventions API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/cancer-gov-interventions-api/)
- [Cancer.gov Terms API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/cancer-gov-terms-api/)
- [Cancer.gov Trials API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/cancer-gov-trials-api/)
- [NCI Drug Dictionary API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/drug-dictionary-api/)
- [Cancer.gov Site-Wide Search API](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/sitewide-search-api/)

## Tags

Glossary, Terminology, Content, Dictionary

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Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/apis/cancer-gov/glossary-api/). The API's provider profile, Kin Score and agent-readiness rating are at https://apis.io/providers/cancer-gov/.