- 1cannibalize something to take the parts of a machine, vehicle, etc. and use them to repair or build another
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- 2cannibalize something (business) (of a company) to reduce the sales of one of its products by introducing a similar new product We believe the two perfumes appeal to different buyers and won't cannibalize one another's sales.
- 3cannibalize something to take creative ideas from another source, often without showing much respect for that source With this latest remake coming to theaters, the studio is again cannibalizing its past.
cannibalize
verbNAmE//ˈkænəbəˌlaɪz//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they cannibalize he / she / it cannibalizes
past simple cannibalized
-ing form cannibalizing
NAmE//ˌkænəbələˈzeɪʃn//
noun [uncountable]See cannibalize in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: cannibalize