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.
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Recent Examples of cannibalize
Efficiency improvements that reduce billable hours directly cannibalize revenue.
—
Preston Fore, Fortune, 27 June 2025
Duplicate Content Risks: Without rigorous canonical tagging and duplicate prevention, sprawling websites can cannibalize their own rankings.
—Al Sefati, Forbes.com, 5 June 2025
Downtown’s office market is essentially cannibalizing itself to survive.
—Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 29 May 2025
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania saw a record-breaking $5.7 billion in total gaming revenue in 2024 — a clear sign that digital gaming expands the market, not cannibalizes it.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 16 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cannibalize
Preston Fore, Fortune, 27 June 2025
Duplicate Content Risks: Without rigorous canonical tagging and duplicate prevention, sprawling websites can cannibalize their own rankings.
—Al Sefati, Forbes.com, 5 June 2025
Downtown’s office market is essentially cannibalizing itself to survive.
—Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 29 May 2025
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania saw a record-breaking $5.7 billion in total gaming revenue in 2024 — a clear sign that digital gaming expands the market, not cannibalizes it.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 16 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cannibalize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cannibalize
Verb
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The treatment had never been used on a species of raptor before, but Ammann took a leap and sent them an email.—
Karissa Waddick,
USA Today,
6 July 2025
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When his young son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis) and Walter’s cat upend the performance with their unruly behavior, Charles’s wife, Catherine (Thurman), persuades Charles not to punish the kid but instead to use the opportunity to teach him about Jesus (Isaac).—
Chris DeVille,
The Atlantic,
6 July 2025
Verb
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But rubber tires are hardly the only items recycled into products for our homes.—
LEW SICHELMAN,
Miami Herald,
10 July 2025
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Composting: Level up your gardening expertise by recycling your yard waste.—
Joe Rassel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
10 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cannibalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cannibalize. Accessed 20 Jul. 2025.
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