cancel out

1. Neutralize the effect of, offset, render void. For example, Anne's kindness to her neighbor could not cancel out her irritability. The verb cancel was used in this way by itself from the late 1400s; out was added in the early 1900s.

Related Words

• annihilate 
• belie 
• disallow 
• disprove 
• invalidate 
• neutralize 
• nullify 
• rebut 
• reverse 
• undo 
• vitiate 
• void