Synonyms of cannibalize

cannibalize

verb

as in to use

to remove parts from a machine, car, etc., to repair or build another one

He cannibalized one washing machine to fix another.

Many parts of the engine were cannibalized from older cars.

Related Words

• use
• recycle
• utilize
• employ
• operate
• exploit
• reuse
• harness
• apply
• manipulate
• exercise
• handle
• work
• wield
• direct
• run

Dissimilar Words

• dump
• ignore
• chuck
• toss
• throw away
• throw out
• neglect
• junk
• misuse
• misapply

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of cannibalize

Incumbents were never going to build infrastructure that settles a tenth of a cent at near-zero cost because that would cannibalize their fee model. — Ismail Amla, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2026

Bally’s, meanwhile, has vehemently argued that allowing VGTs will cannibalize revenue from its 4,000 permanent facility slot machines. — Joe Ferguson, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026

The smaller convenience-centric store cannibalized online sales by a similar amount but generated no significant increase in total net revenue. — Ayşe Çetinel, Harvard Business Review, 18 Aug. 2026

This is only slightly more massive than the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy (approximately 400 million solar masses), which the Milky Way is currently cannibalizing and an order of magnitude less massive than the Small Magellanic Cloud. — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 17 Aug. 2026

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