# Can a running Elasticsearch query be cancelled?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-a-running-elasticsearch-query-be-cancelled/75>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [April 30, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-a-running-elasticsearch-query-be-cancelled/75 "2015-04-30T23:37:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![shaunak](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shaunak/32/6643_2.png) [@shaunak](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/shaunak)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-a-running-elasticsearch-query-be-cancelled/75/1 "2015-04-30T23:37:41Z")

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At this time, you can specify a timeout on a query, but a query cannot be explicitly canceled once it is sent.

We do have plans to make the query timeout more "accurate", i.e., terminate the query if it exceeds your specified timeout in a more consistent/predictable manner. Once in place, in the future it is possible/likely that we will add the ability to explicitly delete queries, too.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-a-running-elasticsearch-query-be-cancelled/75/2 "2017-07-06T00:16:25Z")

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