cancel

[ kan-suhl ]
/ ˈkæn səl /

verb (used with object), can·celed, can·cel·ing or (especially British) can·celled, can·cel·ling.

verb (used without object), can·celed, can·cel·ing or (especially British) can·celled, can·cel·ling.

to counterbalance or compensate for one another; become neutralized (often followed by out): The pros and cons cancel out.
Mathematics. (of factors common to both the denominator and numerator of a fraction, certain terms on opposite sides of an equation, etc.) to be equivalent; to allow cancellation.

noun

an act of canceling.
Printing, Bookbinding.
  1. omission.
  2. a replacement for an omitted part.

Origin of cancel

1350–1400; Middle English cancellen < Medieval Latin cancellāre to cross out, Latin: to make like a lattice, derivative of cancellī grating, plural of cancellus; see cancellus

synonym study for cancel

3, 7. Cancel, delete, erase, obliterate indicate that something is no longer to be considered usable or in force. To cancel is to cross something out by stamping a mark over it, drawing lines through it, or the like: to cancel a stamp, a word. To delete is to cross something out from written matter or from matter to be printed, often in accordance with a printer's or proofreader's symbol indicating the material is to be omitted: to delete part of a line. To erase is to remove by scraping or rubbing: to erase a capital letter. To obliterate is to blot out entirely, so as to remove all sign or trace of: to obliterate a record.

OTHER WORDS FROM cancel

British Dictionary definitions for cancel out

cancel
/ (ˈkænsəl) /

verb -cels, -celling or -celled or US -cels, -celing or -celed (mainly tr)

noun

Derived forms of cancel

canceller or US canceler, noun

Word Origin for cancel

C14: from Old French canceller, from Medieval Latin cancellāre, from Late Latin: to strike out, make like a lattice, from Latin cancellī lattice, grating

Idioms and Phrases with cancel out

cancel out

Neutralize the effect of, offset, render void. For example, Anne's kindness to her neighbor could not cancel out her irritability. The verb cancel was used in this way by itself from the late 1400s; out was added in the early 1900s.