cancellation

noun can·cel·la·tion \ ˌkan(t)-sə-ˈlā-shən \

variants: or less commonly cancelation

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

Examples: cancellation in a Sentence

1 : the act or an instance of canceling

The cancellation of the game was due to bad weather.

2 : something (such as a hotel room or a ticket) made available by the canceling of an arrangement

was lucky to get a cancellation for the trip to Chicago

3 : a mark made to cancel something (such as a postage stamp)

See cancellation defined for English-language learners

See cancellation defined for kids

Examples of cancellation in a Sentence

The storm caused delays and flight cancellations.
Notice of cancellation should be given 30 days in advance.
There is a fee for cancellation.
Cancellations increased when rates doubled.

Recent Examples of cancellation from the Web

The burst of rainfall, which comes after several weeks of unusually dry and hot weather in Indianapolis, caused cancellations and postponements for outdoor events Sunday.

— tom leyden, Indianapolis Star, "Severe weather possible across Central Indiana for the next several hours," 10 June 2018
The Eagles had planned to send a smaller contingent to the White House, which contributed to the cancellation.

— andrew joseph, For The Win, "Former Eagles receiver Torrey Smith says Trump lied after White House visit cancellation," 4 June 2018
The rain that delayed the second game of the doubleheader for almost three hours led to the cancellation of D.J.'s flight.

— justin sayers, The Courier-Journal, "Louisville Bats third baseman D.J. Peterson is a proud big brother," 31 May 2018
Roseanne Barr's Twitter saga didn't end with the cancellation of her show Tuesday.

— the washington post, NOLA.com, "Roseanne Barr says co-stars threw her under the bus," 30 May 2018
People can’t help but weigh in on the Roseanne Barr drama after the cancellation of her ABC sitcom.

— darcel rockett, chicagotribune.com, "'Well That Escalated Quickly': Franchesca Ramsey talks about Roseanne fallout," 30 May 2018
Feature creep and mismanagement resulted in the cancellation of Copland.

— peter bright, Ars Technica, "From Win32 to Cocoa: A Windows user’s would-be conversion to Mac OS X," 26 May 2018
Many lunar scientists were taken aback by the cancellation of Resource Prospector.

— jay bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Private Companies Took Over Rocket Launches. Can They Do the Same For Moon Landers?," 1 May 2018
The shrinking number of player appearances led to the cancellation of the ceremony after 10 years.

— sam mcdowell, kansascity, "Five MLB All-Stars to take part in Negro Leagues Hall of Game event this summer | The Kansas City Star," 1 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cancellation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of cancellation

see ¹cancel

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1535

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

cancellation Synonyms

Financial Definition of CANCELLATION

cancellation

noun

What It Is

In the finance world, a cancellation is a notice informing a broker that a trade was made incorrectly. In the insurance world, a cancellation occurs when a policyholder stops paying the premium on an insurance policy and/or the insurance policy is no longer effective.

How It Works

Let's say Jane Smith calls her broker, John Doe, and tells him to buy 1,000 shares of Company XYZ. John puts the trade in, but gets a cancellation telling him that the floor accidentally bought 1,000 shares of Company X instead. John quickly puts in a new trade for Jane and then calls and tells her what happened. Because the price of Company XYZ rose about $0.25 before Jane could actually get her shares, John offers to make her whole on the trade.

In another example, let's say Peter Walker has a term life insurance policy that costs him $100 a month. He loses his job and can't afford to pay the premium anymore. In turn, the insurance company cancels the policy and Peter no longer has life insurance.

Why It Matters

Computerized trading has vastly improved the accuracy of trading in developed markets, but occasionally somebody types the wrong ticker symbol or transposes a number, causing a cancellation. Cancellations can be a sneaky way of covering up wrongdoing in an account, so they involve a considerable amount of paperwork and verification.

In insurance, cancellations may relieve a consumer of monthly premium payments, but they can also expose the consumer to considerable risk. In Peter's case, a lack of life insurance might mean that if he dies now, his children may have to sell his assets just to pay for his funeral and estate taxes if they are no longer the beneficiaries of his life insurance policy.

Source: Investing Answers

CANCELLATION Defined for English Language Learners

cancellation

noun

: a decision to stop doing or planning to do something : the act of canceling something (such as a game, performance, etc.)
: the act of causing something to end or no longer produce a certain effect : a decision to stop something from being effective or valid