CALLING OFF Synonyms: 88 Similar and Opposite Words

calling off 1 of 2

noun

as in repeal

the act of putting an end to something planned or previously agreed to the calling off of the senior prom is not going to go over well

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

calling off

2 of 2

verb

present participle of call off

as in distracting

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 canceling

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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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 calling off

Verb

An emergency meeting with top government officials on Monday confirmed PSG-Barcelona and other soccer games in European competitions can go ahead after the possibility of calling off games and other big events was discussed. — ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026 Affleck and Lopez initially dated in the early 2000s, calling off their engagement in 2004. — Entertainment Weekly, 17 Oct. 2026 In another snippet of internal dispatcher audio, an operator can be heard calling off the emergency response. — Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 13 Oct. 2026 As his son Charles recounts in Swan Song, when Diana considered calling off her wedding to Prince Charles after suffering various snubs from the heir to the throne, Count Spencer flatly rejected his youngest daughter’s idea. — Diego Parrado, Vanity Fair, 29 Sep. 2026 Incredibly, SpaceX seemed unsure as to whether to push ahead to orbit, calling off that part of the test for a brief moment before deciding to go for orbit minutes later. — Lee Billings, Scientific American, 28 Sep. 2026 The Central Park Conservancy, which operates the park, agreed calling off the concert was the right move. — Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 25 Sep. 2026 For the United States, that means encouraging reform, including human rights protections, and calling off the bargain that has allowed autocratic allies to get away with grievous repression. — Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026 Citing unnamed sources, the Post reported that the shortfall of key weapons contributed to Trump calling off major strikes on Iran and making another push for diplomacy. — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 7 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for calling off

Noun

Today with the formal repeal of the Roadless Rule rule expected early next year, the picture on the ground in timber country looks messier.

— Kirk Siegler, NPR, 26 Oct. 2026
Dispute over retroactive repeal The challenge also centers on the General Assembly’s subsequent repeal of the posting requirement.

— Amy DeLaura, The Washington Examiner, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of repeal

Verb

As is the case in its sister hotel Villa la Coste, a dizzying array of frequently changing contemporary artworks are displayed to distracting effect throughout.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Nov. 2026
His clothes and equipment, while full of detail, also aren’t festooned with distracting elements.

— Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 5 Nov. 2026

Definition of distracting

Verb

While more cities are canceling their contracts with Flock Safety, just as many are discovering how difficult that can be in some instances.

— Terrence O'Brien, The Verge, 1 Nov. 2026
Players generally need around four to six weeks to ramp up for the season, so if a deal hasn’t been reached by this point, canceling games comes closer to reality.

— Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of canceling

Verb

In 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began diverting water from streams that feed the lake, sending it to the City of Angels via its controversial aqueduct.

— Josh Jackson, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2026
The producer, Marisa Polvino, accuses her former partners of breach of contract and fraud for allegedly diverting the project’s rights and development assets away from her production company.

— Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of diverting

Verb

Yet becoming independent rarely means abandoning the parent company’s entire incentive framework.

— Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 26 Oct. 2026
Most of the royal family is not willing to be seen with him in public, so Fergie isn’t the only one allegedly abandoning him.

— Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 25 Oct. 2026

Definition of abandoning

Noun

Stewart gave the character so much humanity, life, and fear, the terror of a life wasted in pursuit of wealth to the abandonment of all else.

— Sean Woods, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2026
If one relative always made Christmas dinner, this year’s gathering may shift to a potluck, a smaller meal or a new host, a change the Hospice Foundation of America describes as a form of compromise rather than abandonment.

— Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of abandonment

Verb

Though the company is still throwing off bundles of cash, the profits aren’t good enough for a ravenous Wall Street, and the blood of 1,000 staff has been let as Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters attempt to change the record.

— Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2026
And for a quarterback whose superpower involves shuffling through collapsing pockets, scrambling through squalor, throwing off any and every platform — such a question was warranted.

— Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 21 Oct. 2026