How to Use cannibalize in a Sentence

cannibalize

verb
  • Many parts of the engine were cannibalized from older cars.
  • He cannibalized one washing machine to fix another.
  • This is a species that will cannibalize its young and full-grown adults if food is scarce enough.
    — Daisy Hernandez, Popular Mechanics, 29 Sep. 2019
  • Fleets are also likely to shrink, as more planes are cannibalized.
    — Aurora Almendral, Quartz, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Given how weak the box office has been so far this year, surely one movie would cannibalize the other.
    — Time, 25 July 2023
  • Not only are the ships old, some have been cannibalized to keep existing ships still in the fleet running.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 21 Feb. 2019
  • At times, he's been able to encourage farmers to buy two of the same tractor and cannibalize one for parts.
    — NBC News, 14 Oct. 2021
  • Many parts from these demos were already deemed perfect as-is and would be cannibalized into the mix of finished songs.
    — Adam Steiner, SPIN, 8 Mar. 2024
  • Sooner or later Disney will run out of its own movies to cannibalize.
    — Cicero Estrella, The Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2019
  • Despite his cousin’s attempt to take his place, Coffin agreed to the draw and was shot, killed and cannibalized.
    — Emily Blackwood, People.com, 8 Jan. 2025
  • But the shift seemed to merely cannibalize Black Friday sales.
    — Anne D'innocenzio, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Nov. 2021
  • Many in the Donner Party refused to cannibalize at the cost of their lives.
    — Cody Cassidy, Wired, 13 Jan. 2021
  • That could mean that the Max 10 runs a risk of cannibalizing sales of the Max 9.
    — Julie Johnsson, Bloomberg.com, 19 June 2017
  • But if the workforce can’t scale with those policies, the policy just cannibalizes itself.
    — Andrew Leahey, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
  • Its days of cannibalizing movie and TV writing roles aren’t far away either.
    — Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 6 June 2023
  • Scalise’s loss is the latest evidence that the party would rather cannibalize itself than lead the country.
    — Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, The New Republic, 13 Oct. 2023
  • That may prove a difficult line to walk - and could end up simply cannibalizing sales from West Elm.
    — Sarah Halzack, chicagotribune.com, 25 May 2017
  • That may prove a difficult line to walk - and could end up simply cannibalizing sales from West Elm.
    — The Washington Post, OregonLive.com, 26 May 2017
  • Astronomers watched as jets blasting from a black hole cannibalized a blue supergiant companion star.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 Apr. 2026
  • In its race to catch up with Microsoft, Google must try to avoid cannibalizing itself.
    — Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2023
  • The females, typically larger than the males, have been known to cannibalize the smaller males.
    — Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 1 Sep. 2022
  • This weekend, the Big 10 and Big 12 will cannibalize their own.
    — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 25 Nov. 2021
  • Why is Ukraine cannibalizing a perfectly good Bazooka-type weapons for a drone warhead?
    — David Hambling, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
  • This paints a clear picture of a VA forced to cannibalize itself in order to pay for care in the private sector.
    — Joe Davidson, Washington Post, 11 June 2018
  • It could be looked as boring on one side, but on the other side, the Traitors were cannibalizing each other this entire season.
    — Nicole Fell, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2025
  • Some programmers have started to warn that similar advances could cannibalize all kinds of knowledge work.
    — Lila Shroff, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026
  • No small wonder that Scorcese self-cannibalized the move in several subsequent projects.
    — Literary Hub, 15 Apr. 2026
  • No small wonder that Scorcese self-cannibalized the move in several subsequent projects.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 Apr. 2026
  • No small wonder that Scorcese self-cannibalized the move in several subsequent projects.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Apr. 2026
  • But some said the higher salaries have meant that centers are cannibalizing the rest of the mental health system by drawing providers away from other programs.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 27 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cannibalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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