cannibalize
/ˈkænɪbəlaɪz/US/ˈkænɪbəlaɪz/
cannibalize is the alternative form of cannibalise.
Meaning of cannibalise
Verb
cannibalise (third-person singular simple present cannibalises, present participle cannibalising, simple past and past participle cannibalised)
- To eat (parts of) another of one's own species.
- The female black widow spider is known to cannibalise the male.
- To remove parts of (a machine, etc) for use in other similar machines.
- to cannibalize an old laptop for parts
- To reduce sales or market share (for one of one's own products) by introducing another.
- iPad mini to cannibalize 1M full-size iPad sales.2012 October 17, electronista
- Rework old material; rehash.
- When the album succeeds, such as on the swaggering, Queen-esque “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” it does so on The Darkness’ own terms—that is, as a random ’80s-cliché generator. But with so many tired, lazy callbacks to its own threadbare catalog (including “Love Is Not The Answer,” a watery echo of the...2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club
Forms of cannibalize
| third-person singular present | cannibalizes |
|---|---|
| present participle | cannibalizing |
| past participle | cannibalized |
| past | cannibalized |
Questions about cannibalize
- What is cannibalize the alternative form of?
- Cannibalize is the alternative form of cannibalise.
- How do you pronounce cannibalize?
- Cannibalize is pronounced /ˈkænɪbəlaɪz/ (UK).
Words near cannibalize in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cannibalize (page history and authors); cannibalise (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cannibalize.wav.
Cite this entry: “cannibalize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cannibalize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
