adjective
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preserved and stored in airtight cans or tins
canned meat
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informal prepared or recorded in advance; artificial; not spontaneous
canned music
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a slang word for drunk
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of canned
Explanation
Anything canned is stored in a jar or can. It’s usually food, but prerecorded music is also canned. And, if you get fired from a job, you’ve been canned. Don’t cry, though, it’s better than being stuck in a jar. When someone talks about "canned goods," they mean all the food you can buy that comes in a can, like canned green beans and canned pineapple. Home-preserved food is also canned, even if it's in a glass jar. This adjective takes on a derogatory slant when it describes music that's recorded rather than played live, or an answer that sounds prepared rather than real.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Perhaps my biggest complaint with canned soups is that they lack heat.
From Salon • Jun. 13, 2026
The two stocks will replace canned foods maker Campbell’s and swimming pool supplier Pool in the S&P 500.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Because it wasn’t just his statements on UFOs that got Rossetti canned.
From Slate • Jun. 8, 2026
She staged “commodities luncheons” where she and other welfare mothers served lawmakers government cheese and canned meat.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
Only we didn’t have anchovies in the house, so Mom used canned sardines.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
