cancel
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkæn.sl̩/
note: see /æ/ raising
ipa: [ˈkɛən.sl̩ ~ ˈkeən.sl̩]
Forms: form: cancels
form: canceling
form: cancelling
form: canceled
form: canceled
form: cancelled
form: cancelled
form: cancell
Etymology: From Middle English cancellen, from Anglo-Norman canceler (“to cross out with lines”) (modern French chanceler (“to stagger, sway”)), from Old French canceler, from Latin cancellō (“to make resemble a lattice”), from cancellus (“a railing or lattice”), diminutive of cancer (“a lattice”).
Senses: examples: text: A deed may be avoided by delivering it up to be cancelled; that is, to have lines drawn over it in the form of latticework or cancelli; the phrase is now used figuratively for any manner of obliterating or defacing it.
ref: 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
glosses: To cross out something with lines etc.
examples: text: He cancelled his order on their website.
text: "I don't know what your agreement was, Herr Professor, but if it had money in it, cancel it. I want him to learn that lesson, too."
ref: 1914, Marjorie Benton Cooke, Bambi:
text: These also included not canceling the Christmas display, whose kitschiness drove him bonkers but which endured because people love it and because he is a populist and showman, despite his elitist veneer, and because he has a heart.
ref: 2008 January 9, Michael Kimmelman, “The Legacy of a Pragmatic Custodian of Human Civilization”, in The New York Times:
text: AUKUS envisages a wide range of diplomatic and technological collaboration, from cybersecurity to artificial intelligence, but at its core is an agreement to start consultations to help Australia acquire a fleet of nuclear-propelled (though not nuclear-armed) submarines. One consequence of this is Australia cancelling a contract, worth tens of billions of dollars, signed in 2016 with France for diesel-electric submarines. In announcing AUKUS on September 15th with the prime ministers of Australia and Britain, Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson, President Joe Biden stressed that it was about “investing in our greatest source of strength—our alliances”.
ref: 2021 September 19, “The strategic reverberations of the AUKUS deal will be big and lasting”, in The Economist:
synonyms: belay
undo
glosses: To invalidate or annul something.
examples: text: This machine cancels the letters that have a valid zip code.
glosses: To mark something (such as a used postage stamp) so that it can't be reused.
examples: text: The corrective feedback mechanism cancels out the noise.
glosses: To offset or equalize something.
examples: text: Such a 2-handle cancels the 1-handle so the manifold is D⁴.
ref: 2003, Gordana Matić, Clint McCrory, Topology and geometry of manifolds, →ISBN, page 182:
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: To remove a common factor from both the numerator and denominator of a fraction, or from both sides of an equation.
topics: media
glosses: To stop production of a programme.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type.
examples: text: cancelled from heaven
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to exclude.
synonyms: word: annihilate
word: bag
word: baptize
word: bereave of life
word: blight
word: bring down
word: bump off
word: bury
word: cack
word: compromised to a permanent end
word: croak
word: crush
word: dash
word: deactivate
word: dead
word: demolish
word: destroy
word: dispatch
word: dispose of
word: do
word: do in
word: dust
word: eliminate
word: end
word: eradicate
word: ex
word: exterminate
word: finish
word: finish off
word: flatten
word: grease
word: knock off
word: lay waste to
word: make away with
word: mortify
word: neutralize
word: obliterate
word: off
word: pay off
word: pick off
word: polish off
word: pop off
word: punch someone's ticket
word: put an end to
word: put down
word: put someone out of their misery
word: put six feet under
word: put to sleep
word: ravage
word: rub out
word: ruin
word: scotch
word: scupper
word: scuttle
word: send to eternity
word: send to hell
word: send to the grave
word: send to the great beyond
word: send to the next life
word: slay
word: slaughter
word: smash
word: smite
word: snuff
word: squash
word: stiff
word: stop someone's clock
word: take
word: terminate
word: terminate with extreme prejudice
word: top off
word: top
word: torpedo
word: take care of
word: take down
word: take out
word: waste
word: wax
word: wet
word: whack
word: wipe out
word: wreck
glosses: To kill.
examples: text: Bill Gates is canceled. Gwen Stefani and Erykah Badu are canceled. Despite his relatively strong play in the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo has been canceled. Taylor Swift is canceled and Common is canceled and, Wednesday, Antoni Porowski, a “Queer Eye” fan favorite was also canceled. Needless to say, Kanye West is canceled, too.
ref: 2018 June 28, Jonah Engel Bromwich, “Everyone Is Canceled”, in The New York Times:
text: We Spoke to Joan Cornellá, the Artist Who Really Should Have Been Cancelled By Now [title]
ref: 2019 May 17, Christopher Hooton, “We Spoke to Joan Cornellá, the Artist Who Really Should Have Been Cancelled By Now”, in VICE:
text: You may have never heard the term "cancel culture," but you certainly know some of the faces who have been canceled. Everyone from Cosby to Matt Lauer.
ref: 2020 February 5, Russell Haythorn, “An explanation of ‘cancel culture’ and why it's become such a popular phenomenon”, in The Denver Channel:
text: To attempt to cancel the founding generation is an attempt to cancel our own freedoms.
ref: 2020 July 3, Kristi Noem speech at Mount Rushmore transcribed by C-SPANhttps://www.c-span.org/video/?473617-1/president-trumps-remarks-mt-rushmore-salute-america-event&live=&beta=&action=getTranscript&transcriptType=cc&service-url=/common/services/programSpeakers.php&appearance-filter=&personSkip=0&ccSkip=0&transcriptSpeaker=
text: So this is my answer: If I am being canceled, I want my friends — and this includes not only my closest associates but any people who consider themselves friendly to me — to stand by, remain silent and do nothing. If you care about me, let them eat me alive.
ref: 2022 June 21, Agnes Callard, “If I Get Canceled, Let Them Eat Me Alive”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
synonyms: word: blacklist
word: deplatform
word: black
word: blackball
word: blacklist
word: boycott
word: cancel
glosses: To cease to provide financial or moral support to (someone deemed unacceptable); to disinvite. Compare cancel culture.
Synonyms: word: annul
word: belay
word: cancel
word: cease
word: cross out
word: forbid
word: invalidate
word: kill
word: repeal
word: repress
word: revoke
word: stop
word: strike out
word: suppress
word: terminate
word: veto
word: void
Derived terms: autocancel
cancelability
cancelable
cancelbot
canceler
cancellability
cancellable
cancelment
cancel out
cancel someone's Christmas
miscancel
noise-cancel
overcancel
precancel
recancel
uncancel