reject
Americanverb (used with object)
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to refuse to have, take, recognize, etc..
to reject the offer of a better job.
- Synonyms:
- deny
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to refuse to grant (a request, demand, etc.).
- Synonyms:
- deny
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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.
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to cast out or eject; vomit.
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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
verb
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to refuse to accept, acknowledge, use, believe, etc
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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
Synonym Usage
See refuse 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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rejecternoun
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rejectionnoun
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prerejectverb (used with object)
-
quasi-rejectedadjective
-
rejectableadjective
-
rejectiveadjective
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unrejectableadjective
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unrejectedadjective
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unrejectiveadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
rejectsimple
-
rejectssimple
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have rejectedperfect
-
has rejectedperfect
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am rejectingprogressive
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are rejectingprogressive
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is rejectingprogressive
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have been rejectingperfect progressive
-
has been rejectingperfect progressive
Past
-
rejectedsimple
-
had rejectedperfect
-
was rejectingprogressive
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were rejectingprogressive
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had been rejectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reject
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
Explanation
When you reject something, you rule it out or dismiss it. If you're trying to pick a fancy restaurant to go to for your birthday, you'll probably reject the diner you went to just yesterday. The verb reject has several shades of meaning. Reject can mean to refuse to accept or agree with something. If you don't believe space aliens are living on earth, you reject the idea — you just don't believe it. Reject can also mean to treat someone with contempt: "My former best friend rejected me to hang out with a different crowd — but I found new friends with whom I had more in common."
Vocabulary lists containing reject
Dissed List: Breakup Words for Valentine's Day
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Essential English Vocabulary, List 3
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Schooled
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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:
Hugo Boss asked its shareholders to reject Frasers Group’s $2.2 billion takeover bid, saying it undervalued the German fashion company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
UC officials reject the idea that Washington is driving the review.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
In conclusion, Stoller wrote, “I reject that the personal decency of an individual has much to do with their politics.”
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
Campaigners had called on the UK government to reject both the Jackdaw gas field and the Rosebank oil field developments.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Now his girlfriend looks like she raided a kid’s craft closet, stuck the reject stuff on hooks, and jammed them in her earlobes.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Gaines said in an interview that his sentence about “traditional style” has been misunderstood, and he rejects the claims of cultural insensitivity that have been leveled against him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
After a pause, he added, “When one side rejects you, you look south, the land of your ancestors, to look for acceptance.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai blogged in response, external at the time to the original fine that the decision "rejects the business model that supports Android, which has created more choice for everyone, not less."
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
But it notes that the artist rejects that incendiary political reading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Hattie also attends a private school, an “arts and humanities” school that rejects all forms of standardized tests.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
"Usually you just get rejected straight up," the 30-year-old told AFP in the western city of Frankfurt.
From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026
The commission has also approved multiple desalination plants, but four years ago rejected one proposed for Huntington Beach, despite support for it from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
The judgement said: "The Court rejected most of the principal allegations advanced against the manufacturers whose vehicles were examined at trial."
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
But that doesn’t mean Alito has rejected its mantle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Although Dr. Bliss rejected the help of several Washington doctors, he sought advice from two nationally respected surgical experts, Philadelphia's D. Hayes Agnew and New York's Frank Hamilton.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
First, does either a federal consent decree that Arizona entered into 2018 or a federal law, the National Voter Registration Act, prevent Arizona from rejecting voter registrations when voters don’t produce documentary proof of citizenship?
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
At the same time, she offered safer and more moderate pro-NATO, pro-American and fiscally prudent positions, explicitly rejecting her far-right past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
On Tuesday, the government issued a statement rejecting the offer and repeating its criticism of what it called the inadequate premium over Commerzbank's share price.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
Rezzolla, Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Goethe University, emphasizes that exploring alternatives does not mean rejecting black holes.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West may indeed have been an “incongruity,” as the directors had declared in rejecting his request for a concession within Jackson Park, but the citizens of Chicago had fallen in love.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
