eject
Americanverb (used with object)
-
ejects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ejected,
past participle, past
-
ejecting
present participle
-
to drive or force out; expel, as from a place or position.
The police ejected the hecklers from the meeting.
-
to dismiss, as from office or occupancy.
-
to evict, as from property.
- Synonyms:
- dispossess, oust
-
to throw out, as from within; throw off.
verb (used without object)
-
ejects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ejected,
past participle, past
-
ejecting
present participle
verb
-
(tr) to drive or force out; expel or emit
-
(tr) to compel (a person) to leave; evict; dispossess
-
(tr) to dismiss, as from office
-
(intr) to leave an aircraft rapidly, using an ejection seat or capsule
-
(tr) psychiatry to attribute (one's own motivations and characteristics) to others
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ejectsimple
-
ejectssimple
-
have ejectedperfect
-
has ejectedperfect
-
am ejectingprogressive
-
are ejectingprogressive
-
is ejectingprogressive
-
have been ejectingperfect progressive
-
has been ejectingperfect progressive
Past
-
ejectedsimple
-
had ejectedperfect
-
was ejectingprogressive
-
were ejectingprogressive
-
had been ejectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of eject
First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin ējectus “thrown out” (past participle of ējicere ), equivalent to ē- + jec- (combining form of jacere ) “to throw” + -tus past participle suffix; see e- 1
Explanation
It’s good to eject yourself from a burning spaceship (if you happen to have an escape pod and a nice small planet to land on), but if a teacher ejects you from class, well that’s not so good. Eject comes from “jectere,” the Latin word meaning throw, but the “e” means out. If you want to say, “throw the rascals out!” in only one word, you should choose, “eject!” The opposite of eject is inject. Thinking about the nurse throwing the measles vaccine into your arm makes that doctor’s visit seem a little less friendly.
Vocabulary lists containing eject
"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury (1950)
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Latin Love, Vol II: iacere
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: ject
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“We’ve all just heard rumors,” said Justin Grieve, one of two pilots to eject from the B-2 stealth bomber.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
One especially energetic kind of Pop III supernova, called a pair-instability supernova, can eject more than 100 times the Sun's mass in heavy elements during a single explosion.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
The pilot, the only person on board the aircraft, managed to eject from the jet before the crash, said Marine Corps spokesperson Capt. Jacob Sugg.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Manele has since avoided a vote of confidence, which would eject him and his government from power if he loses.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
I shake my head to eject such a revoltingly responsible thought out of it.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
Saturn's surroundings are of growing interest because of Enceladus, a moon that ejects icy plumes from a subsurface ocean and may potentially support life.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2026
Spivey's .45 caliber, like most firearms, ejects casingsbehind and to the right.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
As it does, it ejects any leftover fuel, which freezes instantly due to the altitude in a spiral pattern caused by the rocket's movement.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2025
Observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017, showed that the moon occasionally ejects water from this ocean via a plume at its south pole.
From Scientific American ● May 18, 2023
The awesome supernova explosion ejects into space most of the matter of the precursor star—a little residual hydrogen and helium and significant amounts of other atoms, carbon and silicon, iron and uranium.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
One pilot has ejected four times, nine have ejected three times and 256 have ejected twice, according to Steve Roberts, a Martin-Baker executive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The two US troops ejected from the damaged plane, were separated, and had to evade Iranian forces while they awaited rescue from US special forces.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Lana warned against approaching Anak Krakatoa saying materials ejected from the volcano could endanger those within the exclusion zone.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
After conducting a search, he said they found five passengers were ejected from the vehicle, and one was wearing a seatbelt but took it off and exited the vehicle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
When Valentina was ejected from the ship, she parachuted several hundred miles northeast of the city of Karaganda.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
"As far as I'm aware this is the first known case of this variant, the T2, ejecting pilots out of it," he said, adding that the safety record for these jets is "obviously very good".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
At La Albufera National Park, a protected coastal wetland covering 21,000 hectares south of Valencia, officials have spent the past week turning away or ejecting unauthorized onlookers attempting to enter restricted areas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
With a tremendous clatter, the makeshift stagecoach got the speed wobbles like a wonky grocery cart and flipped over on a turn, ejecting its rowdy riders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2025
He travelled eighteen miles but only after ejecting every loose object from the balloon to enable it to launch.
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2024
“I thought I really had it,” I say, staring at this machine ejecting an amazing yellow card, like a credit card, all for me.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
