CALLED OFF Synonyms: 63 Similar and Opposite Words

called off

verb

past tense of call off

as in distracted

to draw the attention or mind to something else she was about to tell me the big news when her attention was called off by the arrival of another guest

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in canceled

to put an end to (something planned or previously agreed to) called off the party after half of those invited couldn't make it

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of called off When plans were made for a visit to Japan by President Eisenhower in 1960—it was eventually called off—there weren’t enough policemen to guard his route into Tokyo, so the yakuza were mobilized to help. — Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026 Related Though local law enforcement swept Tulsa’s BOK Center and its surroundings and determined the threat was not credible on Friday, the show was still called off. — Ashley Iasimone, Billboard, 11 Oct. 2026 Previous attempts to retrieve bodies at such high altitudes have been called off because of the risk of death to the rescuers. — Helen Regan, CNN Money, 10 Oct. 2026 But the Coast Guard also found three bodies, and the search for 10 people who remained missing was eventually called off. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 7 Oct. 2026 As the deadline approached, Claude responded by threatening to blackmail Johnson, revealing the affair to his wife and coworkers unless the replacement was called off. — Kevin Roose, Vanity Fair, 7 Oct. 2026 But Bulgaria failed to find any survivors from the Alfa Watan’s 10-person crew after the vessel sank and eventually called off search operations after only coming across life rafts and parts of the ship, according to AFP and Reuters. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 6 Oct. 2026 And in 2024, Idaho called off the execution of 73-year-old Thomas Creech after trying to find a vein for nearly an hour. — Keri Blakinger, ProPublica, 6 Oct. 2026 Stanton also reviewed Tennessee’s procedures after Lee called off a different execution in 2022 and found the state did not comply with its own lethal injection process. — Jeffrey Collins, Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for called off

Verb

And not be distracted by whether or not Ed Sheeran is crying today or crying tomorrow.

— Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 3 Oct. 2026
But she, and New York Times journalists observing the raid, were soon distracted by a group of cockroaches scurrying past an oil canister.

— Zishaan a Latif, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of distracted

Verb

The Vatican had originally estimated a weeklong hospital stay, and had canceled his audiences through Tuesday.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 17 Oct. 2026
In a sign of the impact on the party, MK canceled its flagship Siyathatha rally less than three weeks before South Africa’s municipal elections.

— Tiisetso Motsoeneng, semafor.com, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of canceled

Verb

Flights were canceled or diverted, and airport operations were suspended.

— Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 10 Oct. 2026
Flight-tracking site flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh had either been diverted or canceled, with only a helicopter hovering over the airport at one point.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of diverted

Verb

Gartner expects more than 40% of agentic AI projects, which are projects built on AI that acts on its own rather than waiting for instructions, to be scrapped by the end of 2027, citing escalating costs and unclear business value among the reasons.

— Ciaran Cosgrave, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
Lionsgate eventually pivoted to turning Ascendant into a TV movie for Starz that could launch a spinoff series, but the plan was scrapped after the cast, including Woodley and James, declined to return for a television format.

— Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of scrapped

Verb

The administration has waged a multi-front battle against the press, including an early review of the broadcast licenses for ABC's local TV stations that could lead to them being revoked.

— David Folkenflik, NPR, 14 Oct. 2026
According to the producers, Casparina was in Beijing representing Indonesia at an international forum when her citizenship was revoked over her opposition to the new regime.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of revoked

Verb

Dozens of passengers and crew on the flight that aborted after the man jumped the airport’s perimeter fence in May are suing the airport, the city and two related companies for negligence and wrongful death.

— Katie Langford, Denver Post, 29 Sep. 2026
Or the pilots could have just aborted the landing at that point and circled to try again.

— ABC News, ABC News, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of aborted

Verb

On the first day of his second term, the Republican president repealed a Biden-era executive order aimed in part at guarding against the risks that AI systems pose to consumers, workers and national security.

— Garance Burke, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026
In the last decade, four states have repealed the death penalty, and another, Washington, took this sanction off its statutes after the state Supreme Court struck it down.

— Patrik Jonsson, Christian Science Monitor, 10 Oct. 2026