cancel

Etymology

From Middle English cancellen, from Anglo-Norman canceler (“to cross out with lines”) (modern French chanceler (“unsteady move”)), from Latin cancellō (“to make resemble a lattice”), from cancellus (“a railing or lattice”), diminutive of cancer (“a lattice”).

verb

1. (transitive) To cross out something with lines etc.
2. (transitive) To invalidate or annul something.
   He cancelled his order on their website.
   "I don't know what your agreement was, Herr Professor, but if it had money in it, cancel it. I want him to learn that lesson, too." 1914, Marjorie Benton Cooke, Bambi
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, mathematics) To remove a common factor from both the numerator and denominator of a fraction, or from both sides of an equation.
6. (transitive, media) To stop production of a programme.
7. (printing, dated) To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type.
8. (obsolete) To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to exclude.
9. (slang) To kill.
10. (transitive, neologism) To cease to provide financial or moral support to (someone deemed unacceptable). Compare cancel culture.
    Bill Gates is canceled. Gwen Stefani and Erykah Badu are canceled. Despite his relatively strong play in the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo has been canceled. Taylor Swift is canceled and Common is canceled and, Wednesday, Antoni Porowski, a “Queer Eye” fan favorite was also canceled. Needless to say, Kanye West is canceled, too. 2018, Jonah Engel Bromwich, The New York Times
    We Spoke to Joan Cornellá, the Artist Who Really Should Have Been Cancelled By Now 2019, Christopher Hooton, VICE
    You may have never heard the term "cancel culture," but you certainly know some of the faces who have been canceled. Everyone from Cosby to Matt Lauer. February 5, 2020, Russell Haythorn, “An explanation of ‘cancel culture’ and why it's become such a popular phenomenon”, in The Denver Channel
    To attempt to cancel the founding generation is an attempt to cancel our own freedoms. 2020 July 3, Kristi Noem speech at Mount Rushmore transcribed by C-SPANhttps://www.c-span.org/video/?473617-1/president-trumps-remarks-mt-rushmore-salute-america-event&live=&beta=&action=getTranscript&transcriptType=cc&service-url=/common/services/programSpeakers.php&appearance-filter=&personSkip=0&ccSkip=0&transcriptSpeaker=
11. (transitive, derogatory, neologism) A synonym of hold accountable, usually used to invoke anger and shock amongst the audience.

noun

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