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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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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Nothing in the proposal Trump announced on Monday is likely to force Putin to abandon that objective.—
Simon Shuster,
Time,
15 July 2025
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That doesn't mean abandoning your message, just finding the right entry point for your audience in that moment.—
Rachel Weissman,
Forbes.com,
15 July 2025
Verb
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While Minnesota abolished the death penalty over a century ago, the federal murder charges carry a maximum penalty of capital punishment.—
Thao Nguyen,
USA Today,
9 July 2025
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Minnesota abolished its state death penalty in 1911.—
Steve Karnowski,
Los Angeles Times,
8 July 2025
Verb
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Megan later deleted the clip, but the video had already made its rounds online.—
Amber Corrine,
VIBE.com,
14 July 2025
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In a scathing rant on X (which has since been deleted), Musk criticized the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein records.—
Meredith Kile,
People.com,
14 July 2025
Verb
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Kurt's key takeaways The AI tattoo machine isn't here to erase tradition.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
14 July 2025
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And the push to exclude non-citizens from the next count is unconstitutional, deeply un-American and designed to erase entire communities.—
Genesis Robinson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
13 July 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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While the Trump administration has passed temporary waivers on those sanctions, known as the Caesar Act, they can only be permanently repealed by law.—
Matthew Lee,
Los Angeles Times,
7 July 2025
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But the bill that passed Congress on Thursday would repeal the part of the 2022 law that established the green bank and rescind money that hadn’t already been obligated to its recipients.—
Michael Phillis,
Chicago Tribune,
4 July 2025
Verb
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The fest was especially significant this year — the 50th anniversary of resettlement in the U.S. by refugees emanating from the Vietnam War, the Secret War in Laos and the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia that attempted to eradicate artists, intellectuals and cultural bearers from society.—
Jia H. Jung,
Mercury News,
11 July 2025
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Measles was eradicated in the United States 25 years ago.—
Taylor Wilson,
USA Today,
10 July 2025
Verb
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They were assigned female at birth and never want to abort a pregnancy – making fallopian tube removal a viable option to protect themself and their husband given their dissatisfaction with other birth control methods.—
David Oliver,
USA Today,
10 July 2025
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Military crews aborted several attempts to launch the missile from Cape Canaveral in 2023 due to a problem with the weapon's launcher.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
26 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cancel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cancel. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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