reject
[verb ri-jekt; noun ree-jekt]
- 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.
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- something rejected, as an imperfect article.
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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
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for rejected
Contemporary Examples
The role was originally offered to John Wayne, who rejected it for being “unpatriotic.”
Brutality must be rejected as a “mistake,” but simultaneously preserved as a possible policy option.
Schettino also tried to enter a plea bargain agreement, which ultimately was rejected by the Grosseto court.
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Republicans rejected the offers.
Indeed, the body would ultimately have rejected the organ transplant.
Historical Examples
All pursuits that serve to connect the soul with the world whence it came are rejected.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
It will not be sufficient that the rash counsels of human passion are rejected.
He had given back to her the gift of life, which she had rejected.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
The night before, he had proposed to a girl and had been rejected.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
"Cheer up, Mary, for I seek to comfort you," answered the rejected lover.
The Wives of The DeadNathaniel Hawthorne
reject
- 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
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- something rejected as imperfect, unsatisfactory, or useless
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Word Origin
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
reject
n.
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).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.