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canker 1 of 2

verb

Definition of cankernext
as in to poison
to lower in character, dignity, or quality such shameless ambulance chasing cankers the legal profession

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

canker

2 of 2

noun

as in rot

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

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 canker
Noun
Recognize bacterial canker by the dead branches covered by sap drippings. — Calvin Finch, San Antonio Express-News, 13 Feb. 2026 This damages the trunk and leaves an ugly, elongated canker that invites insects and stresses the tree, leading to stunted growth, sparse foliage, and stem dieback. — Luke Miller, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Jan. 2026 Bacterial plant diseases include speck (a winter-surviving infection that attacks tomatoes), canker (which damages fruit trees including those producing apples and peaches), and blight (which rots melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, beans, and more). — New Atlas, 10 Jan. 2026 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 See All Example Sentences for canker
Recent Examples of Synonyms for canker
  1. poison
  2. rot
  3. corrupt
  4. decay
  5. degrade
  6. cancer
  7. deteriorate
  8. squalor
Verb
  • Over the course of Exile, one of Loktev’s subjects is poisoned; another receives a five-year prison sentence in absentia.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026
  • This is the league, remember, where a man (Harvey Updyke) confessed to poisoning the trees at Auburn on a radio show after Alabama lost to the Tigers, and a coach (Jackie Sherrill at Mississippi State) castrated a bull to motivate his squad.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of poison
Noun
  • Hossain and her collaborators have conjured an internalized hellscape marked by sensual photography, gnarly cyst makeup, and suffocating matrimonial rituals involving turmeric and milk — all redolent with upper-class heteronormative rot.
    — Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Interestingly, though, Oppenheim doesn’t see the media as inherently corrupting; in Primetime, television is simply an empty space, and the desperation to fill it with the lowest common denominator is where the rots starts to set in.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of rot
Verb
  • The title character and his fellow physicists spend much of their early years refusing to work for the Soviet military machine; building bombs would corrupt the purity and beauty of their science.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 14 Sep. 2026
  • And by engaging with these powerful militaries, the group reinforced its self-image as a major regional player that was uniquely capable of liberating the Muslim world from corrupting American and Israeli influence.
    — April Longley Alley, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of corrupt
Noun
  • Ewa Mroczkowska’s production design also turns dewy embankments, decadent interiors, and sunrises over cemeteries into visions of storybook-like decay.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026
  • One of them in particular, portrayed with vicious snark by Vicky Krieps, revels in the moral decay of her times, thirsting for blood.
    — Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of decay
Verb
  • As industries increasingly operate equipment in extreme thermal and demanding environments, optical components must withstand conditions that can quickly degrade conventional materials.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2026
  • When a critical resource of a larger system is categorized as interchangeable, the company triggers savings logic that, in pursuit of lower prices, degrades quality.
    — Mindaugas Čaplinskas, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of degrade
Noun
  • As an art student in the 1950s, McNeely was diagnosed with cancer, so when feminist art and discourse soon after came to center on empowerment, independence, and strength, her experience did not fit neatly in.
    — Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Among nonsmokers, the increase is even more dramatic, with the gene raising lung cancer risk some 60 times.
    — Tom Gavin, EverydayHealth.com, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of cancer
Verb
  • An individual company can maintain excellent controls and favorable claims experience while still facing higher pricing because the market has deteriorated around it.
    — Randy Sadler, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026
  • And that’s when the Twins began to sink, though the ship deteriorated far more over these past three weeks than at first.
    — Dan Hayes, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of deteriorate
Noun
  • Bryant was charged in February 2025 with first-degree child abuse after investigators found that her children — at the time ages 12, 13, and 15 — had been living alone for at least four years in a townhouse on Lydia Lane, trapped in squalor.
    — Andrea May Sahouri, Freep.com, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Amid the squalor and chaos of a Provincetown kitchen, Anthony Bourdain found his—and Tony did, too.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of squalor

Browse Nearby Words

canisters
canker
cankered
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“Canker.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/canker. Accessed 19 Sep. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on canker

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about canker

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