as in to use
to remove parts from a machine, car, etc., to repair or build another one
He cannibalized one washing machine to fix another. Many parts of the engine were cannibalized from older cars.
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Recent Examples of cannibalize
Without one singular contender to amass votes, Jonathan Bailey, Tom Goodman-Hill, John Hawkes, and Treat Williams may cannibalize each other’s votes.
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Joe Reid, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2024
Writers didn’t want to do punch-ups on potentially crummy AI scripts or have their words (or ideas) cannibalized by large language models that didn’t pay them a dime.
—Marah Eakin, WIRED, 17 Oct. 2024
For the Hollywood studios, the answer is slightly more complicated as their streaming businesses inch their way toward profitability after losing billions of dollars to compete with Netflix while also cannibalizing their cash-generating TV channels.
—Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2024
The rollout of Google’s tool also raised concerns among some news publishers, who worried that the AI summaries could cannibalize their web traffic by removing the need for users to visit their sites to get information — and similar concerns could arise with OpenAI’s search engine.
—Clare Duffy, CNN, 25 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for cannibalize 
Joe Reid, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2024
Writers didn’t want to do punch-ups on potentially crummy AI scripts or have their words (or ideas) cannibalized by large language models that didn’t pay them a dime.
—Marah Eakin, WIRED, 17 Oct. 2024
For the Hollywood studios, the answer is slightly more complicated as their streaming businesses inch their way toward profitability after losing billions of dollars to compete with Netflix while also cannibalizing their cash-generating TV channels.
—Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2024
The rollout of Google’s tool also raised concerns among some news publishers, who worried that the AI summaries could cannibalize their web traffic by removing the need for users to visit their sites to get information — and similar concerns could arise with OpenAI’s search engine.
—Clare Duffy, CNN, 25 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for cannibalize
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Cite this Entry
“Cannibalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cannibalize. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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