cancel out

Idioms  

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.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cancel out

And even if the Fed hikes, Treasury intervention could cancel out the restrictive impact of higher rates, Coltman said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Both are true, and they cancel out on schedule, 20 minutes apart.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

Because Donaldjohanson's shape is uneven, those tiny forces do not cancel out completely and instead create a twisting effect that gradually alters the asteroid's rotation.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 25, 2026

Cook said in an interview published on Wednesday that Apple planned to raise its prices in a bid to cancel out the impact of surging memory and storage chip costs.

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

The waves for these paths will not cancel out.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

Related Words

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