Meaning & use
cancel
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To decide that something planned will not take place, or to stop an order, booking or service.
Grammar: Takes an object: cancel the meeting, cancel an order.
Patterns
- cancel something
- cancel something with someone
We had to cancel the picnic because of the storm.
She cancelled her gym membership last week.
The airline cancelled all flights to the island.
verbtransitivetechnical
To mark a stamp or ticket so that it cannot be used again.
Grammar: Takes an object: cancel a stamp.
Patterns
- cancel a stamp
- cancel a ticket
The post office cancels each stamp with an ink mark.
The conductor cancelled our tickets with a punch.
verbtransitive or intransitivemathematics
To remove an effect by an opposite one, so that the result is nothing.
Grammar: Often followed by out: the debts cancel out the profit.
Patterns
- cancel something out
- cancel out
The two forces cancel each other out.
In the fraction, the threes cancel and leave one half.
His good deeds cancelled out the bad.
verbtransitiveinformal
To publicly reject and withdraw support from a person because of something they said or did.
Grammar: Takes a person or brand as object: cancel a celebrity.
Patterns
- cancel someone
Fans tried to cancel the singer after the controversy.
Some think it is unfair to cancel people over old posts.
Word forms
| third person singular | cancels |
|---|---|
| past tense | canceled |
| past participle | canceled |
| -ing form | canceling |
Common combinations
- cancel a meeting
- They had to cancel a meeting at the last minute.
- cancel a subscription
- I want to cancel my subscription.
- cancel a flight
- The storm forced them to cancel a flight.
- cancel out
- The gains cancel out the losses.
- cancel an order
- You can cancel an order within 24 hours.
- cancel a reservation
- He called to cancel the reservation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- call off
- Call off is informal and used for events or plans, but not for subscriptions.
- scrap
- Scrap is casual and suggests dropping a plan completely.
- abolish
- Abolish means to end a rule or system permanently and is much more formal.
- revoke
- Revoke is formal and used when an authority withdraws a right, license or decision.
Opposites
Word family
- cancellation noun
- the act of canceling something
- cancelable adjective
- able to be canceled
- canceler noun
- a person or tool that cancels
- uncanceled adjective
- not yet canceled
Commonly confused: cancel or cancer? cancel or cancle?
cancel vs cancer
Cancer is a serious disease; it is not a spelling of cancel.
cancel vs cancle
Cancle is a common misspelling; the correct spelling is cancel, ending in -el.
Practice
Heavy snow forced the airline to ___ every flight this morning.
Choose one answer.
Cancel means the flights will not run at all. Delay is tempting but only means later; the sentence says forced and every flight, pointing to cancellation.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cancel”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.