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
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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:
The six-page document discussed issues including the F-5’s flight controls, what could happen if pilots had to eject, and previous crashes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
"Eighty-six" is a slang term used to mean "eject" or "remove."
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
A US A-10 ground attack aircraft was also reportedly downed on Friday, with US media saying the pilot managed to eject and was rescued in nearby Kuwait.
From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026
These massive stars spin rapidly and regularly eject material into space.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2026
Listen to Side B of my dad’s cassette of Missy Elliott’s excellent album So Addictive, which—because it would not eject from the cassette player—I’d already heard hundreds of times in my life.
From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
"Our catalyst works a bit differently because it actually just ejects the electron directly into solvent," says Zachary Wickens, a professor in the UW-Madison Department of Chemistry who led the work.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 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
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
The foul was upgraded to a flagrant two foul after review and Carrington was automatically ejected from the match after scoring eight points in four minutes from the bench.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
"The pilot was ejected and has been recovered."
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
One graduate student was ejected from this week’s meeting.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
When ejected, it forms a huge, reflective cloud in which each individual fiber reflects a radio frequency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The ejected matter would still be in orbit about Jupiter, as Io is, and supply the great tube of atoms which surround Jupiter at Io’s distance.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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
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
The Bruins leader said he thought Steven Jamerson II tried to take out an opponent, but the coach said he had a poor view and apologized for ejecting the player.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2026
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
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.
