cancel mission

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "cancel mission" is correct and usable in written English. You can use it when you want to indicate the termination of a planned operation or task. Example: "Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have to cancel the mission." Alternative expressions include "abort mission" and "call off mission."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Science

Wiki

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

60 human-written examples

In his presentation to the planetary science subcommittee, James L. Green, director of NASA's planetary science division, said that to make up for the new overrun, the agency could delay or cancel missions like Grail and Ladee, which are to visit the Moon, or Juno, a return to Jupiter and its moons.

The New York Times - Science

The seismometer is of an electromagnetic type, light weight, small size and has good shock-durability, making it suitable for being loaded onto a penetrator, which is a small, hard-landing probe developed in the LUNAR-A Project, a previous canceled mission.

Advances in Space Research

In a suggested cost-saving move, the committee suggests that the instruments planned for the canceled missions could be flown instead on the National Polar-orbiting OperatioNPOESSvironmental Satellite System (NPOESS), which is being built for a 2010 launch.

Science Magazine

Or NASA could decide that enough is enough and cancel the mission.

The New York Times - Science

Last year, the administration tried to cancel the mission, which has been expensive and relatively unproductive scientifically.

Science Magazine

Let's hope neither foul weather nor funding shenanigans delay or cancel the mission.

TechCrunch

The risk of mines that had come loose in a recent storm, however, prompted the naval command to cancel the mission, and Regensburg and the rest of the IV Scouting Group was ordered to return to the North Sea on 31 October.

Wikipedia

The car will appear for the job, and then you can cancel the mission and move on with your activities.

WikiHow

But, citing security concerns, the commission canceled its mission at the last minute.

The New York Times

The Trump plan would cancel two missions that the White House has twice tried to eliminate: the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem satellite and a solar-reflectance mission called the CLARREO Pathfinder.

Nature

The United Nations refugee agency announced Tuesday at a briefing in Geneva that heightened violence had forced its workers in Darfur to cancel assessment missions that had been planned for this week.

The New York Times

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Use "cancel mission" when referring to a high-level administrative decision to stop a project or operation before it has fully commenced. In technical aerospace contexts, clarify if the cancellation is due to funding, safety or logistics to provide better context.

Common error

Avoid using "cancel mission" when an operation is already underway and an emergency stop is required; in those high-stakes moments, the term "abort mission" is the standard professional terminology.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "cancel mission" functions primarily as a verb phrase where "cancel" acts as the transitive verb and "mission" as the direct object. While the search results in Ludwig show it often appearing with articles or in plural form, the core structure remains a command or action indicating the nullification of a planned objective. Ludwig AI confirms this as a standard grammatical construction.

Expression frequency: Very common

Frequent in

Science

45%

News & Media

35%

Wiki

10%

Less common in

Formal & Business

5%

Academic

3%

Social Media

2%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

The phrase "cancel mission" is a robust and widely accepted term in English, particularly within the domains of aerospace, military and scientific research. Analysis from Ludwig indicates that while the exact two-word phrase is common, it frequently appears as "cancel the mission" or "cancel missions" in high-authority sources like The New York Times and Science Magazine. Ludwig AI marks this usage as grammatically correct and appropriate for both neutral and formal registers. When using this phrase, it is vital to distinguish it from "abort mission", which carries a more urgent connotation of stopping a process already in motion. Overall, it serves as a precise way to describe the termination of complex, multi-stage projects due to logistical or financial constraints.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

abort mission

implies stopping a mission that is already in progress or currently being executed

call off the mission

uses a phrasal verb that sounds slightly more idiomatic and often refers to a decision made before the start

terminate the mission

a more formal and definitive term often used in military or official reporting

abandon the mission

emphasizes leaving the objective behind, often under duress or due to failure

scrub the launch

a technical term specifically used in aerospace when a scheduled event is canceled due to technical issues

withdraw the mission

suggests a formal removal or retraction of the assigned task

discontinue the operation

a bureaucratic alternative focused on the cessation of ongoing activities

suspend the mission

implies a temporary halt rather than a permanent cancellation

scrap the project

informal alternative suggesting the complete abandonment of a plan rather than just a single operation

abort the task

shifts the focus from a broad mission to a specific sub-task or assignment

FAQs

How do I use "cancel mission" in a professional sentence?

You can use it as a direct object, for example: "NASA officials had to "cancel the mission" due to budget overruns."

Is it "cancel mission" or "abort mission"?

Use "cancel mission" for planning stages or administrative halts. Use ""abort mission"" if the action has already started and must be stopped immediately.

What is a more formal way to say "cancel mission"?

In formal reporting, you might prefer to use "terminate the operation" or "discontinue the mission".

Can "cancel mission" be used in a business context?

Yes, although "scrap the project" or "call off the task" are often used for corporate assignments.