diff --git a/processor.go b/processor.go
index bf6ece4..4235d85 100644
--- a/processor.go
+++ b/processor.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/hibiken/asynq/internal/base"
 	"github.com/hibiken/asynq/internal/rdb"
+	"github.com/rs/xid"
 	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
 )
 
@@ -51,6 +52,10 @@ type processor struct {
 
 	// quit channel communicates to the in-flight worker goroutines to stop.
 	quit chan struct{}
+
+	// cancelFuncs is a map of task ID to cancel function for all in-progress tasks.
+	mu          sync.Mutex
+	cancelFuncs map[string]context.CancelFunc
 }
 
 type retryDelayFunc func(n int, err error, task *Task) time.Duration
@@ -74,6 +79,7 @@ func newProcessor(r *rdb.RDB, pinfo *base.ProcessInfo, fn retryDelayFunc, syncRe
 		done:           make(chan struct{}),
 		abort:          make(chan struct{}),
 		quit:           make(chan struct{}),
+		cancelFuncs:    make(map[string]context.CancelFunc),
 		handler:        HandlerFunc(func(ctx context.Context, t *Task) error { return fmt.Errorf("handler not set") }),
 	}
 }
@@ -99,6 +105,12 @@ func (p *processor) terminate() {
 	const timeout = 8 * time.Second
 	time.AfterFunc(timeout, func() { close(p.quit) })
 	logger.info("Waiting for all workers to finish...")
+
+	// send cancellation signal to all in-progress task handlers
+	for _, cancel := range p.cancelFuncs {
+		cancel()
+	}
+
 	// block until all workers have released the token
 	for i := 0; i < cap(p.sema); i++ {
 		p.sema <- struct{}{}
@@ -162,9 +174,11 @@ func (p *processor) exec() {
 			resCh := make(chan error, 1)
 			task := NewTask(msg.Type, msg.Payload)
 			// TODO: Set timeout if provided
-			ctx := context.Background()
+			ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+			p.addCancelFunc(msg.ID, cancel)
 			go func() {
 				resCh <- perform(ctx, task, p.handler)
+				p.deleteCancelFunc(msg.ID)
 			}()
 
 			select {
@@ -255,6 +269,18 @@ func (p *processor) kill(msg *base.TaskMessage, e error) {
 	}
 }
 
+func (p *processor) addCancelFunc(id xid.ID, fn context.CancelFunc) {
+	p.mu.Lock()
+	defer p.mu.Unlock()
+	p.cancelFuncs[id.String()] = fn
+}
+
+func (p *processor) deleteCancelFunc(id xid.ID) {
+	p.mu.Lock()
+	defer p.mu.Unlock()
+	delete(p.cancelFuncs, id.String())
+}
+
 // queues returns a list of queues to query.
 // Order of the queue names is based on the priority of each queue.
 // Queue names is sorted by their priority level if strict-priority is true.