cancel

Meaning

Verb

1. To cross out something with lines etc.
2. To invalidate or annul something.
3. To mark something (such as a used postage stamp) so that it can't be reused.
4. To offset or equalize something.
5. To remove a common factor from both the numerator and denominator of a fraction, or from both sides of an equation.
6. To stop production of a programme.
7. To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type.
8. (obsolete) To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to exclude.
9. (slang) To kill.
10. To cease to provide financial or moral support to (someone deemed unacceptable); to disinvite. Compare cancel culture.

Noun

1. A cancellation.
2. A cancellation.
3. (obsolete) An enclosure; a boundary; a limit.
4. The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.
5. The page thus suppressed.
6. The page that replaces it.

Synonyms

annul

revoke

abolish

repeal

abrogate

call off

erase

nullify

delete

remit

invalidate

withdraw

cross out

abjure

rescind

cancellation

countermand

stop

🛑

void

obliterate

abort

strike out

reverse

write off

drop

retract

neutralize

offset

overrule

abate

recall

dissolve

terminate

disannul

cease

quash

quit

discontinue

overturn

eliminate

undo

cancelation

give up

negate

suppress

scrub

do away with

wipe out

natural

strike down

live down

set off

CAN

take back

postpone

unlive

deletion

vacate

scratch

scrap

liquidate

put an end to

lift

put off

efface

recant

renege on

liquidation

logout

override

pay off

procrastinate

prorogue

pruning

pull

pull back

refrain

refute

reject

release

relief

relieve

removal

remove

renege

reprint

rescinding

respite

retrieve

revolutionize

rid

root out

score out

scratch out

set back

simplify

slake

square

stall

stay

strike

strike off

subtract

subvert

sweep away

break off an engagement

trim

unsay

upend

veto

vitiate

waive

wind up

worm

🪱

yank

backpedal

crossing off

cry off

log off

make void

rub-out

sweep off

pass time

abortion

droup out

unsanctify

abandon

abrogation

absolve

acquit

adjourn

allow

annihilate

annulling

annulment

back out

bafflement

balk

black out

blanking

blot out

break

break off

brushoff

cancel out

circumvent

clear

crossed

cross off

dash

💨

defeat

defer

delay

delineate

denial

denounce

destroy

disable

disallow

disband

discard

dismiss

dispense with

disprove

disrupt

dissipate

draw back

elicit

eradicate

erasing

erasure

expel

explode

expunge

exterminate

extract

falsify

finish

foil

forbid

forestall

forswear

frustrate

frustration

get even

get rid of

glean

go back on

halt

hold over

kill

🔪🩸👤

let

Hyphenated as

can‧cel

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkæn.sl̩/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: cancellen

Cognate with French: chanceler

In summary

From Middle English cancellen, from Anglo-Norman canceler (“to cross out with lines”) (modern French chanceler (“to stagger, sway”)), from Latin cancellō (“to make resemble a lattice”), from cancellus (“a railing or lattice”), diminutive of cancer (“a lattice”).