rejection

American  

[ri-jek-shuhn] / rɪˈdʒɛk ʃən /

noun

• rejections
  plural

1. the act or process of rejecting.

   Synonyms:

   elimination, dismissal, refusal

2. the state of being rejected.

   Synonyms:

   elimination, dismissal, refusal

3. something that is rejected.

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rejection Cultural  

1. A process in which the immune system of a body attacks an organ or tissue, either its own or tissue transplanted into it from another organism. (See xenotransplantation.)

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Discover More

Rejection is the most serious problem faced in surgery involving organ transplants. Drugs are used to suppress the immune system after organ transplant in order to prevent the rejection of and eventual death of the transplanted tissue.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonrejection
  noun
• prerejection
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rejections
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rejection

First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin rējectiōn-, stem of rējectiō “a throwing back”; equivalent to reject + -ion

Explanation

The noun rejection can refer to the actual act of rejecting something or to the feeling one has after being rejected. In other words, you might have feelings of rejection after experiencing the rejection of others. The Latin noun rēicere, which means "to throw back," is the ancestor of the word rejection. Nobody likes to feel the rejection of being excluded. The word rejection became popular in psychology in 1931, when parental rejection was seen as a motivation of bad behavior in children. The word found a medical meaning by 1943, as the body's refusal to accept a transplant.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rejection rejections

It’s also hard for somebody at my age to handle that level of rejection, especially when you get so close to something.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

The Conservatives did not respond to requests to comment on Estonia's rejection of a prison rental deal with the UK.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

Couples in that first wave of litigation across the country met with rejection in every court they turned to.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

Araki posits that it’s fear holding people back; not just the fear of rejection, but a broader fear of the unknown.

From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026

It’s a small act, but it still feels like rejection.

From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

Most have decades of experience in senior roles and say they've submitted countless CVs, only to receive automated rejections or no response at all.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Outright rejections are rare, though in 2021 another U.K. digital bank, Monzo, withdrew an application after the regulator said approval was unlikely.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

UniCredit has used derivatives to quietly build its position and brushed off repeated rejections of the deal from German bankers and officials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026

A government report External link found that the Medicare Advantage plans they reviewed collectively denied 12% of requests for admission to skilled nursing facilities, and 18% of those rejections were appealed.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

Mom once told me that Dad’s father interpreted all of Dad’s big goals as rejections of the family he came from.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

Related Words

• elimination
• exclusion
• repudiation
• veto