1. the act of taking parts from one machine or product to repair or build another, especially when the original is no longer needed
Usage: common in manufacturing and repair contexts
2. the situation in which a new product or service reduces sales of an existing product or service from the same company
Usage: business and marketing term

Examples

• The repair shop used cannibalization to fix the broken printer by taking parts from an older model.
• The company worried about cannibalization when they launched their new smartphone model.
• Cannibalization of the old aircraft provided essential components for the newer fleet.
• Market analysts predicted cannibalization would reduce sales of the original product line.
• The factory avoided cannibalization by maintaining a separate inventory of replacement parts.
• Cannibalization of legacy systems helped reduce IT costs during the technology upgrade.