CANCEL (cancelled, cancelling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: cancelled    , cancelling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cancel mean? 

• CANCEL (noun)
  The noun CANCEL has 1 sense:

1. a notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat

  Familiarity information: CANCEL used as a noun is very rare.

• CANCEL (verb)
  The verb CANCEL has 5 senses:

1. postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled

2. make up for

3. declare null and void; make ineffective

4. remove or make invisible

5. make invalid for use

  Familiarity information: CANCEL used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CANCEL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cancel; natural

Hypernyms ("cancel" is a kind of...):

musical notation ((music) notation used by musicians)

Derivation:

cancel (declare null and void; make ineffective)

• CANCEL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cancel    ... he / she / it cancels   
Past simple: canceled    / cancelled   
Past participle: canceled    / cancelled   
-ing form: canceling    / cancelling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

call off; cancel; scratch; scrub

Context example:

scratch that meeting--the chair is ill

"Cancel" entails doing...:

schedule (make a schedule; plan the time and place for events)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

cancellation (the act of cancelling; calling off some arrangement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make up for

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

cancel; offset; set off

Context example:

His skills offset his opponent's superior strength

Hypernyms (to "cancel" is one way to...):

balance; equilibrate; equilibrise; equilibrize (bring into balance or equilibrium)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cancel"):

counteract; counterbalance; countervail; neutralize (oppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Declare null and void; make ineffective

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

cancel; strike down

Context example:

strike down a law

Hypernyms (to "cancel" is one way to...):

adjudge; declare; hold (declare to be)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cancel"):

annul; countermand; lift; overturn; repeal; rescind; reverse; revoke; vacate (cancel officially)

remit (release from (claims, debts, or taxes))

write off (cancel (a debt))

annul; avoid; invalidate; nullify; quash; void (declare invalid)

recall (make unavailable; bar from sale or distribution)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

cancel (a notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat)

cancellation (the act of cancelling; calling off some arrangement)

cancellation (the speech act of revoking or annulling or making void)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Remove or make invisible

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cancel; delete

Context example:

Please delete my name from your list

Hypernyms (to "cancel" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cancel"):

efface; erase; rub out; score out; wipe off (remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing)

excise; expunge; scratch; strike (remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Make invalid for use

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

cancel; invalidate

Context example:

cancel cheques or tickets

Hypernyms (to "cancel" is one way to...):

mark; score (make underscoring marks)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

The increase in NO2 and other sources of OH, such as ozone, cancel out this expected effect.

(Greenhouse Gas ‘Detergent’ Recycles Itself in Atmosphere, NASA)

When they turned on neurons that produce the chemical octopamine, that activation canceled out the effect of L. brevis on the germ-free flies.

(Gut bacteria may control movement, National Institutes of Health)

In her death she winged her way back to her calm untroubled youth, and cancelled all the rest.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A DPA remains in effect until the person who grants it dies or cancels it.

(DPA, NCI Dictionary)

EXAMPLE(S): active, cancelled, pending, suspended, terminated, nullified

(Experimental Unit Status Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

EXAMPLE(S): For a lab test, this would be the condition or stage in the lifecycle of the test (e.g., "completed", "canceled", etc.).

(Performed Activity Status Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

Specifies whether an entity, event or activity cancels out a previous entity, event or activity.

(Nullification Indicator, NCI Thesaurus)

A durable power of attorney remains in effect until the person who grants it dies or cancels it.

(Durable power of attorney, NCI Dictionary)

I have no idea what backward sweep of memory had brought the matter fresh to his mind, or what freak had caused him to desire that I should recount it; but I hasten, before another cancelling telegram may arrive, to hunt out the notes which give me the exact details of the case and to lay the narrative before my readers.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Portuguese grocer refused him further credit, while the greengrocer, who was an American and proud of it, had called him a traitor to his country and refused further dealings with him—carrying his patriotism to such a degree that he cancelled Martin's account and forbade him ever to attempt to pay it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)