If you take a zero or zero and make it an action that you can perform, and you have to undo – the act of making something empty or null. If you`re arguing with your boyfriend, it could ruin the fun you had that day. This word is used especially in legal language – divorce invalidates a marriage” or in commercial litigation where you`re trying to undo someone else`s actions or plans. To cancel is to remove the power, efficiency or value of something. The thing that is canceled is that which is called null and void or nullity. It can be the invalidation of something by court order for legal or ethical reasons of inmerit. A legislature can repeal a prohibition, law or tax simply by passing a new law. Election results can be annulled if a court finds the electoral process to be inappropriate, and a court decision can be overturned by a higher court. Even the Supreme Court itself can have its decisions overturned by new acts of Congress, but not if a decision is based on the Constitution. In the years leading up to the Civil War, the South claimed the right to repeal any federal law (such as anti-slavery laws) they deemed unconstitutional, leading to the Annulment Crisis of 1832. Annul is a close synonym of nullify (with the same root) that are canceled and invalid.

The issue of judicial activity, in which judges are sometimes accused of striking down laws of their own will, deliberately ignoring inconvenient facts and even established legal norms in order to achieve the desired result, is controversial. Juries can also overturn the applicable law in a case to be decided, which is called jury annulment. Cancellation is the act of cancelling something. For example, counteracting the effects of a snakebite with an antidote could be called cancellation. Use unnaming when one thing overcomes or replaces another, which essentially erases the effects of the first thing. The repeal of a newly enacted law would occur if the law proved impossible to enforce. The word is most commonly used in a political sense and was first used in this way by Thomas Jefferson in 1798. The Latin root is nullificationem, “to do nothing”, from nullus, “not any”. To cancel something is to make it invalid or ineffective.

A peace treaty is an attempt to eliminate aggression and division within a region. These sample phrases are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “cancellation”. The views expressed in the examples do not represent the views of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article on cancellation.