cancel

Definition of cancel

Etymology

From Latin cancelli (“a railing or lattice”), diminutive of cancer (“a lattice”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kænsəl̩/

Verb

cancel (third-person singular simple present cancels, present participle cancelling (Commonwealth), canceling (American), simple past and past participle cancelled (Commonwealth), canceled (American))

1. (transitive) To cross out something with lines etc.
2. (transitive) To invalidate or annul something.
   
   He cancelled his order on their website.
   
   
3. (transitive) To mark something (such as a used postage stamp) so that it can't be reused.
   
   This machine cancels the letters that have a valid zip code.
   
   
4. (transitive) To offset or equalize something.
   
   The corrective feedback mechanism cancels out the noise.
   
   
5. (transitive) (media) To stop production of a programme.

Noun

cancel (plural cancels)

1. A cancellation (US); (nonstandard in some kinds of English).
   
   (Internet) A control message posted to Usenet that serves to cancel a previously posted message.
   
   
2. (obsolete) An inclosure; a boundary; a limit.
   
   A prison is but a retirement, and opportunity of serious thoughts, to a person whose spirit [...] desires no enlargement beyond the cancels of the body. - Jeremy Taylor.
   
   
3. (printing) The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.