cnx

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

Adjective

cancelled (not comparable)

1. No longer planned or scheduled.
   • The cancelled show would have drawn some 5,000 fans.

   Synonyms:

   off

2. Marked over the stamp, to show that the stamp has been used.
   • Most of the cancelled specimens were somewhat less valuable philatelically.
3. Socially censured in a way expected to be durable rather than transient. Or, otherwise a permanent and irrevocable state of social isolation, esp. from interactive media.
   • On the question of rehabilitation for cancelled celebrities, the nature of the offence is relevant: a bad day is different from a life of abusive crime.