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:
Parsa, the owner who had to eject petty criminals, wishes she’d recorded some of the early craziness; her TikToks today focus on cash collection and cleaning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
GMB convener Chris Mitchell made the appeal after a bin lorry crew was forced to eject rubbish that had caught fire onto the street in Glasgow city centre.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 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
They use electric fields to charge particles in a liquid propellant and then eject those particles into space, creating thrust.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026
Supernovae violently eject much of their stellar mass into space.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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
The search may have been hampered by the plane's anti-radar stealth capabilities and technology that wipes the jet's communications system if a pilot ejects.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2023
The sun has 11-year-long sunspot cycles, during which the level of ferocity in its magnetic fields grows and the sun ejects increasingly larger pieces of its atmosphere.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2023
He stops fights, ejects drunks, soothes hysteria, cures headaches, and tends bar.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Investigators believe he was ejected from his seat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
One in 2011 involved an Iraq War veteran who was ejected from a ride in New York and hit his head on the car.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
After a short review, Stephens was ejected for targeting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Two pilots, a trainee and an experienced professional, who ejected and parachuted out of their plane moments before it crashed are expected to make a full recovery, the RAF has said.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
What colors and strange creatures had been ejected from the spaces between her teeth?
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
The rescue operation included an A-10 Warthog plane that was hit over the Gulf, with its pilot ejecting before being rescued, according to CBS.
From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026
Xi’s motives for ejecting Zhang may never be definitively known.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 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
When it finally came—three giant pink bubbles bursting at the surface off the starboard bow and ejecting Frank, Hazel, and Leo—Piper went a little crazy.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
