as in to poison
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
such shameless ambulance chasing cankers the legal profession
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in rot
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of canker
Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 1 Aug. 2019
Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 18 Dec. 2025
Fungal disease, butternut canker, wiped out about 90% of the state's butternut trees.
—Jenna Prestininzi, Freep.com, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for canker
Verb
Start by removing all blighted twigs and cankered branches 6 to 10 inches below the edge of visible infection.
—Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 1 Aug. 2019
Noun
Even the most superb body begins to diminish in a person’s early 30s, thanks to the onset of sarcopenia, which sounds like a canker but means the incremental decline of muscle mass.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 18 Dec. 2025
Fungal disease, butternut canker, wiped out about 90% of the state's butternut trees.
—Jenna Prestininzi, Freep.com, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for canker
Recent Examples of Synonyms for canker
Verb
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The summer blockbuster, which premieres June 26, will follow Supergirl's three-day mission to obtain a cure for her superdog and friend, Krypto, who is poisoned by villainous alien Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts).—
Jennifer Hassan,
USA Today,
19 June 2026
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Last year, harmful algae blooming off Southern California poisoned hundreds of dolphins and sea lions off Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, causing strandings along popular beaches.—
Paul Rogers,
Mercury News,
15 June 2026
Noun
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This improves air circulation around the rhizomes and discourages future rot.—
SJ McShane,
Martha Stewart,
18 June 2026
-
That stopped the rot of five consecutive defeats.—
Andy Jones,
New York Times,
17 June 2026
Verb
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Americans are angry that their kids are being indoctrinated into a left-wing ideology intended to infiltrate their hearts and corrupt their moral center.—
Rachel del Guidice,
FOXNews.com,
10 June 2026
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Character also involves standing up to people who are bankrupting and corrupting this country.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
31 May 2026
Noun
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The decay rate will increase as the spacecraft dips into denser layers of the atmosphere until Swift finally burns up during reentry.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
19 June 2026
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The Dirty Beaches founder’s own saxophone and trumpet lead the players’ cut-and-pasted recordings down dark alleys of decay and introspection, backdropped by percussive bangs and scrapes that suggest the construction of some great, mysterious superstructure.—
Hattie Lindert,
Pitchfork,
19 June 2026
Verb
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Operating without high temperatures also allowed the researchers to use a wider range of sensing materials, including polymers that might degrade under heat.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
17 June 2026
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Thermomechanical recycling, another energy-intensive endeavor, relies on high-quality, homogeneous feedstock that can only be processed a limited number of times before the plastic degrades.—
Jasmin Malik Chua,
Footwear News,
17 June 2026
Noun
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The diagnosis was of early-stage cancer, or Stage 1.—
KiMi Robinson,
USA Today,
23 June 2026
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Amodei predicts that, over the next five to ten years, AI will achieve, among other things, the reliable prevention and treatment of nearly all natural infectious disease, the elimination of most cancer, the prevention of Alzheimer’s and a doubling of the human lifespan.—
Rob Toews,
Forbes.com,
22 June 2026
Verb
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of secluding himself from the deteriorating realities of his invasion of Ukraine.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
18 June 2026
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Even though the mice on the sugar-free diet did not gain any extra weight compared to the control group, their internal health indicators deteriorated.—
Khloe Quill,
FOXNews.com,
18 June 2026
Noun
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Reform and Restore are no doubt relying on support from pockets of deprivation, squalor and neglect in Makerfield.—
Alexander Smith,
NBC news,
18 June 2026
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Authorities say all of the animals were found living in squalor.—
Grace Bellinghausen,
Sun Sentinel,
15 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Canker.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/canker. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.
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