past and past participle
Put food or drink into metal containers so it stays good longer.
We canned tomatoes last summer.
The peaches were canned at the farm.
American English
How to pronounce canned
verb · adjectiveA1Very common word
KAAND
/kʰænd̚/
One syllable.
Form of can
Canned can be a verb or an adjective, and its meaning depends on the context.
Put food or drink into metal containers so it stays good longer.
Practice out loudMeanings & examples
adjective
Preserved and sold in a metal container.
Canned soup is easy to store.
I added canned corn to the salad.
adjective
Prepared or recorded in advance and not natural or spontaneous.
His canned answer sounded insincere.
The show used canned laughter.
past and past participle
Fired someone from a job, especially in informal American English.
The company canned him after the mistake.
She got canned last week.
Good to know
In informal American English, canned can mean fired.
Useful expressions
a container for waste
Please put the wrapper in the trash can.
to be very excited about something that will happen
I can't wait to see you.
to create a complicated problem by starting to deal with something
That question opened a can of worms.
Related words & forms
For the modal meaning, use can with every subject: she can, not she cans. For the verb meaning “put food in a can,” write canned and canning with double n.