cancel out
phrasal 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
To determine how many decibels an earmuff cancels out, simply subtract seven from the NRR and divide the result by two.
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Bestreviews, Mercury News, 12 May 2025
But Pantheon also estimates that this benefit will be canceled out — on a national level — by the hit to oil producers, who will cut spending and hiring, sending ripples through the economy.
—Camila Domonoske, NPR, 6 May 2025
Previously in the campaign, away to Arsenal, Van Dijk headed in an equaliser to cancel out Bukayo Saka’s ninth-minute opener.
—Mark Carey, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
These two factors may well cancel out, Dan Russell, a physicist at Penn State who studies baseball-bat vibrations, told me.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cancel out
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Bestreviews, Mercury News, 12 May 2025
But Pantheon also estimates that this benefit will be canceled out — on a national level — by the hit to oil producers, who will cut spending and hiring, sending ripples through the economy.
—Camila Domonoske, NPR, 6 May 2025
Previously in the campaign, away to Arsenal, Van Dijk headed in an equaliser to cancel out Bukayo Saka’s ninth-minute opener.
—Mark Carey, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
These two factors may well cancel out, Dan Russell, a physicist at Penn State who studies baseball-bat vibrations, told me.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cancel out
Cite this Entry
“Cancel out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cancel%20out. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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