<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--Generated by DFIN XBRL Instance Document - http://www.dfinsolutions.com/ - Version R3.0 - on 21-May-2022 [12:08:19] {AM}-->
<linkbase xmlns="http://www.xbrl.org/2003/linkbase" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.xbrl.org/2003/linkbase http://www.xbrl.org/2003/xbrl-linkbase-2003-12-31.xsd" xmlns:xbrldt="http://xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt">
<roleRef xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="ngm-20211231.xsd#Cover" roleURI="http://www.ngmbio.com/role/Cover" />
<arcroleRef arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/all" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#all" />
<arcroleRef arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/dimension-default" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#dimension-default" />
<arcroleRef arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/dimension-domain" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#dimension-domain" />
<arcroleRef arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/domain-member" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#domain-member" />
<arcroleRef arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/hypercube-dimension" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#hypercube-dimension" />
<arcroleRef arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/notAll" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#notAll" />
<definitionLink xlink:type="extended" xlink:role="http://www.ngmbio.com/role/Cover">
</definitionLink>
</linkbase>
