Definition of cannibalize
cannibalized;
cannibalizing
1 a
: to take salvageable parts from (something, such as a disabled machine) for use in building or repairing another machine
b
: to make use of (a part taken from one thing) in building, repairing, or creating something else
2
: to deprive of an essential part or element in creating or sustaining another facility or enterprise
- the energy system has begun cannibalizing the economic system it is supposed to fuel
- —Barry Commoner
3
: to use or draw on material of (another writer, an earlier work, etc.)
- a biography that cannibalizes previous biographies
4
: to take (sales) away from an existing product by selling or being sold as a similar but new product usually from the same manufacturer;
also
: to affect (something, such as an existing product) adversely by cannibalizing sales
5
astronomy, of a celestial object
: to incorporate mass from (a nearby object) through gravitational attraction
- But some stellar black holes make themselves known because they exist in a binary systems as the companion to a normal star, which they are cannibalizing.
- —John Noble Wilford
1
: to practice cannibalism
2
: to cannibalize one unit for the sake of another of the same kind
