reject

[verb ri-jekt; noun ree-jekt]

See more synonyms for reject on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

to refuse to have, take, recognize, etc.: to reject the offer of a better job.
to refuse to grant (a request, demand, etc.).
to refuse to accept (someone or something); rebuff: The other children rejected him. The publisher rejected the author's latest novel.

to discard as useless or unsatisfactory: The mind rejects painful memories.
to cast out or eject; vomit.
to cast out or off.
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

something rejected, as an imperfect article.

Origin of reject

1485–95; (v.) < Latin rējectus, past participle of rējicere to throw back, equivalent to re- re- + jec-, combining form of jacere to throw + -tus past participle suffix

Related formsre·ject·a·ble, adjectivere·ject·er, nounre·jec·tive, adjectivepre·re·ject, verb (used with object)qua·si-re·ject·ed, adjectiveun·re·ject·a·ble, adjectiveun·re·ject·ed, adjectiveun·re·jec·tive, adjective

Synonyms for reject

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1. See refuse¹. 1, 2. deny. 3. repel, renounce. 4. eliminate, jettison. 8. second.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for rejected

jilted, abandoned, forsaken, deserted, returned, shunned, denied

Examples from the Web for rejected

Contemporary Examples of rejected

The role was originally offered to John Wayne, who rejected it for being “unpatriotic.”
Sony: Hollywood’s Most Subversive Studio Under Attack
Marlow Stern
December 23, 2014
Brutality must be rejected as a “mistake,” but simultaneously preserved as a possible policy option.
John Brennan’s Tortured Defense of the CIA’s Torture Program
Shane Harris
December 11, 2014
Schettino also tried to enter a plea bargain agreement, which ultimately was rejected by the Grosseto court.
The Costa Concordia’s Randy Reckless Captain Takes the Stand
Barbie Latza Nadeau
December 2, 2014
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Republicans rejected the offers.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: November 16
PunditFact.com
November 16, 2014
Indeed, the body would ultimately have rejected the organ transplant.
Jon Stewart and 'Meet The Press' Would Have Been One Unhappy Marriage
Lloyd Grove
October 9, 2014

Historical Examples of rejected

All pursuits that serve to connect the soul with the world whence it came are rejected.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
It will not be sufficient that the rash counsels of human passion are rejected.
United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches
Various
He had given back to her the gift of life, which she had rejected.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana
The night before, he had proposed to a girl and had been rejected.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
"Cheer up, Mary, for I seek to comfort you," answered the rejected lover.
The Wives of The Dead
Nathaniel Hawthorne

British Dictionary definitions for rejected

reject

verb (rɪˈdʒɛkt) (tr)

to refuse to accept, acknowledge, use, believe, etc
to throw out as useless or worthless; discard
to rebuff (a person)
(of an organism) to fail to accept (a foreign tissue graft or organ transplant) because of immunological incompatibility

noun (ˈriːdʒɛkt)

something rejected as imperfect, unsatisfactory, or useless

Derived Formsrejectable, adjectiverejecter or rejector, nounrejection, nounrejective, adjective

Word Origin for reject

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rejected

reject

early 15c., from Old French rejecter and directly from Latin reiectus, past participle of reiectare "throw away, cast away, vomit," frequentative of reicere "to throw back," from re- "back" (see re-) + -icere, comb. form of iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). Related: Rejected; rejecting.

reject

1550s, "a castaway" (rare), from reject (v.). Modern use probably a re-formation of the same word: "thing cast aside as unsatisfactory" (1893); "person considered low-quality and worthless" (1925, from use in militaries).

rejected in Medicine

reject

[rĭ-jĕkt′]

To refuse to accept, submit to, believe, or use something.
To discard as defective or useless; throw away.
To spit out or vomit.
To resist immunologically introduction of a transplanted organ or tissue; fail to accept in one's body.