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

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

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

“This is complete obstruction, and that’s not the way our democracy was founded,” Grijalva said, rejecting the notion that she couldn’t be sworn in, for instance, during Wednesday’s pro forma session.

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County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes the island, urged state wildlife officials to reject the request in a letter to the director of Fish and Wildlife.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A UN commission of inquiry said last month that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report Israel's foreign ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false".

Read more on BBC

The Senate appropriations bill similarly rejects the deep cuts proposed by the White House, but proposes holding the Science Mission Directorate funding at $7.3 billion, the same as the year prior.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Bondi rejected that framing, saying that she was restoring fairness to the Justice Department and ending the “weaponization” that had taken place under President Joe Biden.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

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