reject

[ri-jekt, ree-jekt]

verb (used with object)

1. to refuse to have, take, recognize, etc..

   to reject the offer of a better job.

   Synonyms: deny

2. to refuse to grant (a request, demand, etc.).

   Synonyms: deny

3. to refuse to accept (someone or something); rebuff.

   The other children rejected him. The publisher rejected the author's latest novel.

   Synonyms: renounce, repel

4. to discard as useless or unsatisfactory.

   The mind rejects painful memories.

   Synonyms: jettison, eliminate

5. to cast out or eject; vomit.

6. to cast out or off.

7. Medicine/Medical.,  (of a human or other animal) to have an immunological reaction against (a transplanted organ or grafted tissue).

   If tissue types are not matched properly, a patient undergoing a transplant will reject the graft.

noun

1. something rejected, as an imperfect article.

   Synonyms: second

reject

verb

1. to refuse to accept, acknowledge, use, believe, etc

2. to throw out as useless or worthless; discard

3. to rebuff (a person)

4. (of an organism) to fail to accept (a foreign tissue graft or organ transplant) because of immunological incompatibility

noun

1. something rejected as imperfect, unsatisfactory, or useless

Other Word Forms

• rejective adjective
• rejection noun
• rejectable adjective
• rejecter noun
• prereject verb (used with object)
• quasi-rejected adjective
• unrejectable adjective
• unrejected adjective
• unrejective adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of reject¹

First recorded in 1485–95; (verb) from Latin rējectus, past participle of rējicere “to throw back,” equivalent to re- re- + jec-, combining form of jacere “to throw” + -tus past participle suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of reject¹

C15: from Latin rēicere to throw back, from _re- + jacere to hurl

Synonym Study

See refuse ¹.

Example Sentences

The administration has faced growing bipartisan scrutiny about the legal basis for strikes carried out in recent weeks, though the Republican-controlled Congress has rejected measures to limit the president’s power to continue the attacks.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

If the SEC doesn’t explicitly reject the filings by late December, the firms would have the option to launch these products.

Read more on MarketWatch

"The only way to safeguard the public's privacy and right to choose is to reject plans for a mandatory digital ID, as millions of people have petitioned the Prime Minister to do."

Read more on BBC

City Hall will be able to intervene in planning applications that contain more than 50 homes and were previously rejected by borough councils.

Read more on BBC

For instance, at first he rejected the scientific consensus on climate change and then, a few years later, decided it was true.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• deny 
• dismiss 
• rebuff 
• refuse 
• renounce 
• repudiate 
• scrap 
• spurn 
• turn down 
• veto