cancel

== English == === Alternative forms === cancell (obsolete) === Etymology === From Middle English cancellen, from Anglo-Norman canceler (“to cross out with lines”) (modern French chanceler (“to stagger, sway”)), from Old French canceler, from Latin cancellō (“to make resemble a lattice”), from cancellus (“a railing or lattice”), diminutive of cancer (“a lattice”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈkæn.sl̩/, [ˈkɛən.sl̩ ~ ˈkeən.sl̩] (see /æ/ raising) Hyphenation: can‧cel === Verb === cancel (third-person singular simple present cancels, present participle (US) canceling or (UK) cancelling, simple past and past participle (US) canceled or (UK) cancelled) (transitive) To cross out something with lines etc. (transitive) To invalidate or annul something. Synonyms: belay, undo (transitive) To mark something (such as a used postage stamp) so that it can't be reused. (transitive) To offset or equalize something. (transitive, mathematics) To remove a common factor from both the numerator and denominator of a fraction, or from both sides of an equation. (transitive, media) To stop production of a programme. (printing, dated) To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type. (obsolete) To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to exclude. (slang) To kill. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:kill (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) (transitive, neologism) To cease to provide financial or moral support to (someone deemed unacceptable); to disinvite. Compare cancel culture. Synonyms: blacklist, deplatform; see also Thesaurus:boycott ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== → German: canceln → Gulf Arabic: كنسل (kansal) → Welsh: canslo ==== Translations ==== === Noun === cancel (plural cancels) (US) A cancellation. A control message posted to Usenet that serves to cancel a previously posted message. (obsolete) An enclosure; a boundary; a limit. (printing) The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages. (printing) The page thus suppressed. (printing) The page that replaces it. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Related terms === === Further reading === “cancel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “cancel”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “cancel”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. == Spanish == === Etymology === From Old French cancel from Latin cancellus. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /kanˈθel/ [kãn̟ˈθel] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain) IPA(key): /kanˈsel/ [kãnˈsel] (Latin America, Philippines) Rhymes: -el Syllabification: can‧cel === Noun === cancel m (plural canceles) storm door (secondary door) altar rail (Mexico) room divider oratory window (Mexico, Paraguay, Rioplatense) foyer door (Ecuador) alternative form of cancela === Further reading === “cancel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025