cancelling

Verb

cancel (third-person singular simple present cancels, present participle (US) canceling or (UK) cancelling, simple past and past participle (US) canceled or (UK) cancelled)

1. (transitive) To cross out something with lines etc.
   • 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.1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
2. (transitive) To invalidate or annul something.
   • He cancelled his order on their website.

   Synonyms:

   belay, undo, remit

3. (transitive) To mark something (such as a used postage stamp) so that it cannot be reused.
   • This machine cancels the letters that have a valid zip code.
4. (transitive) To offset or equalize something.
   • The corrective feedback mechanism cancels out the noise.
5. (transitive) To remove a common factor from both the numerator and denominator of a fraction, or from both sides of an equation.
   • Such a 2-handle cancels the 1-handle so the manifold is D⁴.2003, Gordana Matić, Clint McCrory, Topology and geometry of manifolds, →ISBN, page 182
6. (transitive) To stop production of a programme.

See all 17 meanings of cancel