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.
You can even rescue other canned beans from pantry purgatory: kidney, white, garbanzo, whatever you have on hand.
From Salon • May 5, 2026
Prosecutors have accused Soofer of faking invoices for fresh meals while clients were left to eat breakfast bars, canned beans and ramen noodles.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
"The whole war, from beginning to end, I was open... I stayed alone in the market," said Abu Habib, 65, standing in front of his stalls of canned goods and bags of rice.
From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026
It’s not glamorous, high-tech stuff: Think meatpacking, canned goods, packaged foods and so on.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026
The new basement shelter had a four-inch-thick door, Army cots and canned food, a direct phone line to the Pentagon’s bomb shelter, and a shower to wash off radioactive fallout.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
