cancel

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To decide that a planned event will not happen.

   They had to cancel the concert because of the storm.

2. 2
   verb

   To stop an order, agreement, or arrangement so that it no longer applies.

   He cancelled his order on their website before it was shipped.

3. 3
   verb

   To balance out or remove the effect of something.

   The two forces are equal and cancel each other out.

4. 4
   verb

   To mark something, such as a used stamp, so that it cannot be used again.

   This machine cancels the stamps on every letter that passes through it.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cancel came into late Middle English through Old French canceller from Latin cancellare, based on cancelli, “crossbars” or “grating.” It first meant to obliterate writing by drawing or stamping crossing lines over it; because this could make a legal document void, the word developed its modern sense.

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”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary