cancel

To cancel means to call off or postpone indefinitely. Which is probably what you would do if the hotel you were planning to stay in has an infestation of bedbugs.

Scrub, scratch, or strike down — those are all other ways of saying cancel. People often cancel plans, deciding not to do something they had already scheduled. In math, if the numerator and a denominator of a fraction have common factors you can cancel the factors out, which means delete them. To cancel a debt means to get rid of it. A cancel on a postage stamp is the mark that shows it has been used.

Definitions of cancel
  1. verb
    declare null and void; make ineffective
    “Cancel the election results”
    synonyms: strike down
    see moresee less
    types:
    show 9 types...
    hide 9 types...
    annul, countermand, lift, overturn, repeal, rescind, reverse, revoke, vacate
    cancel officially
    remit
    release from (claims, debts, or taxes)
    write off
    cancel (a debt)
    annul, avoid, invalidate, nullify, quash, void
    declare invalid
    recall
    make unavailable; bar from sale or distribution
    go back on, renege, renege on, renegue on
    fail to fulfill a promise or obligation
    break
    invalidate by judicial action
    retire
    withdraw from circulation or from the market, as of bills, shares, and bonds
    stet
    printing: cancel, as of a correction or deletion
    type of:
    adjudge, declare, hold
    declare to be
  2. verb
    make invalid for use
    “cancel cheques or tickets”
    synonyms: invalidate
    see moresee less
    type of:
    mark, score
    make underscoring marks
  3. verb
    postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled
    “cancel the dinner party”
    synonyms: call off, scratch, scrub
  4. noun
    a notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat
    synonyms: natural
    see moresee less
    type of:
    musical notation
    (music) notation used by musicians
  5. verb
    remove or make invisible
    synonyms: delete
    see moresee less
    types:
    show 4 types...
    hide 4 types...
    efface, erase, rub out, score out, wipe off
    remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing
    excise, expunge, scratch, strike
    remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
    sponge
    erase with a sponge; as of words on a blackboard
    cut out, scratch out
    strike or cancel by or as if by rubbing or crossing out
    type of:
    remove, take, take away, withdraw
    remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract
  6. verb
    make up for
    synonyms: offset, set off
    see moresee less
    types:
    counteract, counterbalance, countervail, neutralize
    oppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions
    override
    counteract the normal operation of (an automatic gear shift in a vehicle)
    type of:
    balance, equilibrate, equilibrise, equilibrize
    bring into balance or equilibrium
Word Family