cancel out

verb

canceled out or cancelled out; canceling out or cancelling out; cancels out

: to reduce the effect of (something) : to be equal to (something) in force or importance but have an opposite effect

The costs cancel out the benefits.

Examples of cancel out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

View gallery - 4 images Draco, DwarfLab's new smart telescope, solves deep-sky astrophotography's oldest headache with a sensor that physically spins to cancel out star trails caused by Earth's rotation. — New Atlas, 9 Sep. 2026

Substantially above-average precipitation in states like Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio was canceled out by historically sparse totals recorded in places like California, which had its driest summer since 2002 and its fifth-driest ever recorded. — Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 9 Sep. 2026

Pollution has been shown to suppress BDNF, the same neurochemical exercise relies on to protect and build new brain connections, which means a run along a busy road can cancel out some of the benefit a run in cleaner air would give you. — Eman Bare, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026

The senators also noted that grants were canceled out of the blue with form letters, which had contradictory explanations and incorrect citations. — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for cancel out

• roundabout
• runabout
• sauerkraut
• thereabout
• turnabout
• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout