Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
cancel. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cancel, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cancel in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
cancel you have here. The definition of the word
cancel will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
cancel, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English cancellen, from Anglo-Norman canceler (“to cross out with lines”) (modern French chanceler (“unsteady move”)), from Latin cancellō (“to make resemble a lattice”), from cancellus (“a railing or lattice”), diminutive of cancer (“a lattice”).
Pronunciation
Verb
cancel (third-person singular simple present cancels, present participle cancelling or (US) canceling, simple past and past participle cancelled or (US) canceled)
- (transitive) To cross out something with lines etc.
- (transitive) To invalidate or annul something.
- Synonym: belay
He cancelled his order on their website.
1914, Marjorie Benton Cooke, Bambi:"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."
- (transitive) To mark something (such as a used postage stamp) so that it can't be reused.
This machine cancels the letters that have a valid zip code.
- (transitive) To offset or equalize something.
The corrective feedback mechanism cancels out the noise.
- (transitive, mathematics) To remove a common factor from both the numerator and denominator of a fraction, or from both sides of an equation.
- (transitive, media) To stop production of a programme.
- (printing, dated) To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type.
- (obsolete) To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to exclude.
- (slang) To kill.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:kill
- (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
- (transitive, neologism) To cease to provide financial or moral support to (someone deemed unacceptable); to disinvite. Compare cancel culture.
- Synonyms: blacklist, deplatform; see also Thesaurus:boycott
2018 June 28, Jonah Engel Bromwich, “Everyone Is Canceled”, in The New York Times: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.
2019 May 17, Christopher Hooton, “We Spoke to Joan Cornellá, the Artist Who Really Should Have Been Cancelled By Now”, in VICE:We Spoke to Joan Cornellá, the Artist Who Really Should Have Been Cancelled By Now [title]
2020 February 5, Russell Haythorn, “An explanation of ‘cancel culture’ and why it's become such a popular phenomenon”, in The Denver Channel: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.
- 2020 July 3, Kristi Noem speech at Mount Rushmore transcribed by C-SPAN:
- To attempt to cancel the founding generation is an attempt to cancel our own freedoms.
2022 June 21, Agnes Callard, “If I Get Canceled, Let Them Eat Me Alive”, in The New York Times, →ISSN: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.
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
cross out
- Afrikaans: doodtrek
- Bulgarian: задрасквам (bg) (zadraskvam), зачерквам (bg) (začerkvam)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 划 (zh) (huá),勾 (zh)
- Czech: škrtnout (cs), škrtat
- Danish: strege ud, stryge (da)
- Dutch: doorhalen (nl)
- Estonian: kustutama
- Finnish: yliviivata (fi)
- Georgian: გადახაზვა (gadaxazva), წაშლა (c̣ašla)
- German: ausstreichen, durchstreichen (de), kanzellieren (obsolete)
- Greek: διαγράφω (el) (diagráfo)
- Hungarian: kihúz (hu), áthúz (hu), töröl (hu), kitöröl (hu)
- Irish: síog
- Italian: depennare (it), cancellare (it), eliminare (it)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: stryke
- Polish: skreślić (pl)
- Portuguese: riscar (pt)
- Romanian: anula (ro)
- Russian: зачёркивать (ru) impf (začórkivatʹ), зачеркну́ть (ru) (začerknútʹ)
- Slovak: škrtnúť, škrtať
- Swedish: stryka (sv) (över)
- Thai: ขีดฆ่า (th) (kìit-kâa)
- Welsh: croesi allan
|
invalidate, annul
- Afrikaans: kanselleer
- Alemannic German: abbschdelle
- Arabic: أَلْغَى (ʔalḡā)
- Armenian: չեղարկել (hy) (čʻeġarkel)
- Belarusian: касава́ць impf (kasavácʹ), скасо́ўваць impf (skasóŭvacʹ), скасава́ць pf (skasavácʹ), адмяня́ць impf (admjanjácʹ), адмяні́ць pf (admjanícʹ)
- Bulgarian: отменям (bg) (otmenjam), анулирам (bg) (anuliram)
- Catalan: cancel·lar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 取消 (ceoi2 siu1)
- Mandarin: 取消 (zh) (qǔxiāo), 廢除/废除 (zh) (fèichú)
- Cornish: hedhi
- Czech: zrušit (cs), stornovat (cs)
- Danish: annullere (da), afbestille, aflyse
- Dutch: annuleren (nl)
- Esperanto: nuligi (eo)
- Estonian: tühistama
- Finnish: mitätöidä (fi), kumota (fi), peruuttaa (fi)
- French: annuler (fr), résilier (fr) (a telephone contract, a subscription), se désabonner (fr) (a subscription), mettre fin (fr), décommander (fr)
- Georgian: გაუქმება (gaukmeba), ანულირება (anulireba)
- German: annullieren (de), streichen (de), stornieren (de), absagen (de), canceln (de), abbestellen (de), kanzellieren (obsolete)
- Greek: ακυρώνω (el) (akyróno)
- Ancient: ἀναιρέω (anairéō)
- Hebrew: ביטל (bitél)
- Hungarian: visszavon (hu), töröl (hu), érvénytelenít (hu), megszüntet (hu), felfüggeszt (hu), megsemmisít (hu), lemond (hu), visszamond (hu), sztorníroz (hu), storníroz (hu), felbont (hu)
- Irish: cealaigh
- Italian: invalidare (it), annullare (it), recidere (it), cassare (it)
- Japanese: 取り消す (ja) (とりけす, torikesu), 取り止める (ja) (とりやめる, toriyameru), キャンセルする (ja) (kyanseru-suru), 破棄する (ja) (haki suru)
- Korean: 취소하다 (ko) (chwisohada)
- Latin: rescindō
- Malay: batal (ms)
- Malayalam: റദ്ദാക്കുക (ml) (ṟaddākkuka), ഒഴിവാക്കുക (ml) (oḻivākkuka)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: avbestille, avbryte (no), oppheve, avlyse (no)
- Ottoman Turkish: بوزمق (bozmak)
- Polish: odwołać (pl), anulować (pl)
- Portuguese: anular (pt), invalidar (pt), cancelar (pt)
- Romanian: anula (ro)
- Russian: отменя́ть (ru) impf (otmenjátʹ), отмени́ть (ru) pf (otmenítʹ); аннули́ровать (ru) impf or pf (annulírovatʹ)
- Serbo-Croatian: otkazati (sh) pf, otkazivati (sh) impf
- Slovak: zrušiť, rušiť
- Spanish: cancelar (es)
- Swahili: ghairi (sw)
- Swedish: annullera (sv), avbryta (sv) (about an action), upphäva (sv) (about a given order, or a rule)
- Thai: ยกเลิก (th) (yók-lə̂ək)
- Tigrinya: ኣትርፍ (ʾatrəf)
- Ukrainian: касува́ти (uk) impf (kasuváty), скасо́вувати (uk) impf (skasóvuvaty), скасува́ти (uk) pf (skasuváty)
- Vietnamese: hủy (vi), hủy bỏ (vi)
- Volapük: nosükön (vo)
- Welsh: canslo (cy)
- West Frisian: annulearje (fy)
|
printing, dated: suppress or omit
cease to provide financial or moral support to (someone deemed unacceptable)
Translations to be checked
Noun
cancel (plural cancels)
- (US) A cancellation.
- A control message posted to Usenet that serves to cancel a previously posted message.
- (obsolete) An enclosure; a boundary; a limit.
1678, Antiquitates Christianæ: Or, the History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: , London: E. Flesher, and R. Norton, for R Royston, , →OCLC:A prison is but a retirement, and opportunity of serious thoughts, to a person whose spirit […] desires no enlargement beyond the cancels of the body.
- (printing) The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.
- (printing) The page thus suppressed.
- (printing) The page that replaces it.
Derived terms
Translations
printing: suppression on striking out of matter
Related terms
Further reading
- “cancel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “cancel”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “cancel”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (Spain) /kanˈθel/
- IPA(key): (Latin America) /kanˈsel/
- Rhymes: -el
- Syllabification: can‧cel
Noun
cancel m (plural canceles)
- partition; wall
Further reading