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.

Example Sentences

But some of those gains could be canceled out by Virginia, whose Legislature is preparing a ballot measure that could yield two to three pickups for Democrats.

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The new maps favour Democrats and aim to cancel out gains made by Republicans through recently redrawn voting districts in Texas.

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The risk paid off — California’s new map will effectively cancel out the five seats Texas added, and instead of being engineered in a backroom, it was done with the explicit approval of Californians.

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However, Mr Hibberd said it relied too heavily on unproven technologies, and that planned passenger growth would cancel out any success.

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Another 50 departures and 49 arrivals were canceled out of San Diego International Airport.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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