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cancel

Pronunciation: /ˈkæn.sl̩/

The English word “cancel” has 16 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To cross out something with lines etc.
  2. To invalidate or annul something.
  3. To mark something (such as a used postage stamp) so that it cannot be reused.
  4. To offset or equalize something.
  5. To remove a common factor from both the numerator and denominator of a fraction, or from both sides of an equation.
  6. To stop production of a programme.
  7. To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type.
  8. To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to exclude.
  9. To kill.
  10. To cease to provide financial or moral support to (someone deemed unacceptable); to disinvite. Compare cancel culture.

noun

  1. A cancellation.
  2. A control message posted to Usenet that serves to cancel a previously posted message.
  3. An enclosure; a boundary; a limit.
  4. The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.
  5. The page thus suppressed.
  6. The page that replaces it.

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”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.