cancel out

Idioms and Phrases

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