1
as in to abandon
to put an end to (something planned or previously agreed to)
please call to cancel your appointment with the dentist if you can't make it
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to abolish
to put an end to by formal action
the agreement can be canceled by either side with a formal written notice
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to delete
to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it
canceled the check and wrote a new one
Synonyms & Similar Words
4
as in to erase
to destroy all traces of
it seemed as though all honor and decency had been canceled by the war's new moral order
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cancel
The sprawling tax and policy bill that passed Congress repeals a multibillion-dollar green bank for financing climate-friendly projects, and the Trump administration should be allowed to freeze its funding and cancel related contracts with nonprofits, federal officials said in a court filing.
—
arkansasonline.com, 6 July 2025
Climate scientists in the United States are to be cut off from satellite data measuring the amount of sea ice — a sensitive barometer of climate change — as the U.S. Department of Defense announces plans to cancel processing of the data for scientific research.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 6 July 2025
That was in March, and three months later, Blackbird was cancelled this past week.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 5 July 2025
The Department of Transportation is free to update its guidance about how that program is administered moving forward, Lin wrote, but that does not require suspending the distribution of money — and should not involve canceling plans that were already approved.
—Camila Domonoske, NPR, 25 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for cancel
arkansasonline.com, 6 July 2025
Climate scientists in the United States are to be cut off from satellite data measuring the amount of sea ice — a sensitive barometer of climate change — as the U.S. Department of Defense announces plans to cancel processing of the data for scientific research.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 6 July 2025
That was in March, and three months later, Blackbird was cancelled this past week.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 5 July 2025
The Department of Transportation is free to update its guidance about how that program is administered moving forward, Lin wrote, but that does not require suspending the distribution of money — and should not involve canceling plans that were already approved.
—Camila Domonoske, NPR, 25 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for cancel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cancel
Verb
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Never desert a blaze: Avoid abandoning any fire without supervision.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
1 July 2025
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Retired repos add risk: When maintainers abandon a namespace, attackers can adopt it and push trojan updates.—
Syed Ahmed,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
Verb
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Lethal injection is the only method of execution after firing squads were abolished in 2011.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
26 June 2025
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Beginning in the 1950s, between 20 million and 25 million households gained ownership of plots of land through the government’s scheme to abolish the colonial-era zamindari system of tax-collecting landlords.—
Michael Albertus,
Foreign Affairs,
24 June 2025
Verb
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The post was later deleted but not before arousing the concern of immigration rights groups in South Florida.—
CD Goette-Luciak,
Miami Herald,
1 July 2025
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This is all part of Microsoft’s push for users to delete account passwords altogether and to use passkeys instead.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
Verb
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Federal climate science is being systematically erased.—
Matthew Glasser,
ABC News,
1 July 2025
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The Human Constant Technological revolutions do not erase the need for human judgment.—
Solange Charas,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2025
Verb
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The agencies are also revoking approval for two food colorings—Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B—and plan to approve four new natural colorings for food.—
Alice Park,
Time,
7 July 2025
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Reservations required: Which national parks require them in 2025 Unrelated, the executive order also revokes a presidential memorandum signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2017 that promoted a range of diversity and inclusion efforts in the management of national parks and other public lands.—
Eve Chen,
USA Today,
5 July 2025
Verb
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Tuesday that promises to reopen Panhandle beaches to the public, repealing a 2018 state law that allowed beachfront property owners to close off miles of local shoreline to residents.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 June 2025
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The Legislature previously swatted two attempts earlier this year to repeal that law and ban trans girls from sports.—
Lia Russell,
Sacbee.com,
25 June 2025
Verb
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Davis has partnered with multiple programs to eradicate childhood hunger in the U.S. and recently launched the Davis-Tennon Foundation.—
Rosy Cordero,
Deadline,
30 June 2025
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Vaccines eradicated smallpox and dramatically reduced infant deaths from measles, tuberculosis, whooping cough, and tetanus.—
Kelsey Piper,
Vox,
27 June 2025
Verb
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Ultramarathon swimmer Katie Pumphrey aborted her 24-mile swim from Sandy Point State Park to the Baltimore harbor because of high winds Tuesday.—
Todd Karpovich,
Baltimore Sun,
20 May 2025
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The Gulf’s swelling economic and diplomatic clout has corresponded with interests replacing ideology as the chief driver of foreign policy, as illustrated by the remarkable (though ultimately aborted) negotiations toward the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
9 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cancel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cancel. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
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