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verb

Definition of CANCEL

1

to put an end to (something planned or previously agreed to) <please call to cancel your appointment with the dentist if you can't make it>

Synonyms abandon, abort, call, call off, cry off, drop, recall, repeal, rescind, revoke, scrap, scrub

Related Words abrogate, annul, invalidate, nullify, void, write off; recant, retract, take back, withdraw; countermand, reverse, roll back; break off, discontinue, end, halt, stop, terminate; hold back, interrupt, suspend; give up, relinquish, surrender

Near Antonyms engage, pledge, promise; begin, commence, initiate, start; take on, take up, undertake

Antonyms continue, keep

2

to put an end to by formal action <the agreement can be canceled by either side with a formal written notice>

Synonyms abate, abrogate, annul, avoid, cancel, disannul, dissolve, invalidate, negate, null, nullify, quash, repeal, rescind, roll back, strike down, vacate, void

Related Words countermand, override, overrule, overturn, veto; abort, call, call off, drop, recall, retract, reverse, revoke, suspend, withdraw; ban, enjoin, forbid, outlaw, prohibit; disallow, dismiss, reject; annihilate, break down, eliminate, eradicate, erase, liquidate, remove, throw out, write off

Near Antonyms enact, lay down, legislate; establish, found, institute; formalize, legalize, legitimate, legitimize, validate; pass, ratify; allow, approve, authorize, clear, endorse (also indorse), permit, sanction, warrant; command, decree, mandate, order, prescribe

3

to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it <canceled the check and wrote a new one>

Synonyms blue-pencil, cancel, cross (out), dele, delete, edit (out), elide, kill, scratch (out), strike (out), stroke (out)

Related Words blot out, efface, eradicate, erase, expunge, obliterate, root (out), rub out, wipe out; bleep, blip, clip, cut, excise, remove; bowdlerize, censor, clean (up), expurgate, launder, redact, red-pencil; abbreviate, crop, shorten; black out, repress, silence, suppress

Near Antonyms stet

4

to destroy all traces of <it seemed as though all honor and decency had been canceled by the war's new moral order>

Synonyms abolish, black out, blot out, cancel, clean (up), efface, eradicate, erase, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, root (out), rub out, snuff (out), stamp (out), sweep (away), wipe out

Related Words decimate, demolish, destroy, devastate, ravage; dismantle, flatten, mow (down), raze, tear down; ruin, total, waste, wreck; blast, blow up, dash, dynamite, smash; atomize, consume, devour, dissolve, fragment, powder, pulverize, shatter, splinter; doom, finish, kill, kill off, terminate, zap; cancel, cut, discard, ditch, eject, excise, expel, jettison, oust, throw out

Near Antonyms conserve, preserve, protect, save; build, construct, create, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, shape; fix, mend, patch, rebuild, recondition, reconstruct, renew, renovate, repair, restore, revamp