reject

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English rejecten, from Latin rēiectus, past participle of rēicere (“to throw back”), from rē- (“back”) + iacere (“to throw”). Displaced native Middle English forwerpen (“to reject”) (from Old English forweorpan), Middle English forcasten (“to reject, throw away”) (from Old Norse forkasta), Middle English skirpen (“to reject, spew out”) (from Old Norse skirpa (“to reject, spit out”)), Middle English wernen (“to refuse, reject”) (from Old English wiernan (“to refuse, reject”)), Middle English withchosen, withchesen (“to reject, choose against”) (from Old English wiþċēosan (“to reject”)).

Pronunciation

• (verb) enPR: rĭjĕktʹ, IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdʒɛkt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (noun) enPR: rēʹjĕkt, IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːdʒɛkt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧ject

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Verb

reject (third-person singular simple present rejects, present participle rejecting, simple past and past participle rejected)

1. (transitive) To refuse to accept.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.

   She even rejected my improved offer.

2. (basketball) To block a shot, especially if it sends the ball off the court.
3. To refuse a romantic advance.

   I've been rejected three times this week.

Synonyms

• (refuse to accept): decline, refuse, turn down, repudiate, disown, abnegate, abjure, deny

Antonyms

• (refuse to accept): accept, take up

Translations

to throw away, reject — see discard

to refuse to accept

• Arabic: رَفَضَ‎ (rafaḍa)
• Armenian: մերժել (hy) (meržel)
• Azerbaijani: rədd etmək
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: отхвърлям (bg) (othvǎrljam)
• Catalan: rebutjar (ca), refusar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拒絕 (zh), 拒绝 (zh) (jùjué)

  Min Nan: khì-choa̍t, kū-choa̍t

• Cornish: denagha
• Czech: odmítnout (cs), zamítnout (cs)
• Danish: afvise
• Dutch: verwerpen (nl), afwijzen (nl)
• Esperanto: malakcepti, malagnoski
• Finnish: hylätä (fi), torjua (fi)
• French: rejeter (fr)
• Galician: rexeitar (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: verwerfen (de), ablehnen (de), zurückweisen (de)
• Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (frakunnan), 𐌱𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (biwandjan)
• Greek: please add this translation if you can

  Ancient: ἀναίνομαι (anaínomai), ἀθετέω (athetéō)

• Hungarian: visszautasít (hu), elvet (hu), elutasít (hu), visszadob
• Icelandic: hafna (is)

• Indonesian: menolak (id)
• Irish: eitigh
• Italian: respingere (it), rifiutare (it)
• Japanese: 拒絶する (ja) (きょぜつする, kyozetsu suru)
• Khmer: ច្រានចោល (craan caol)
• Korean: 거절하다 (ko) (geojeol-hada)
• Latin: negō, spernō
• Lithuanian: atmesti
• Maori: ākiri, hape, whakahoe, hoehoe
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: avslå (no), avvise
• Polish: odrzucać (pl) impf, odrzucić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: rejeitar (pt)
• Romanian: respinge (ro), refuza (ro)
• Russian: отверга́ть (ru) impf (otvergátʹ), отве́ргнуть (ru) pf (otvérgnutʹ)
• Sanskrit: स्फुरति (sa) (sphurati)
• Scottish Gaelic: rach an aghaidh, diùlt
• Spanish: rechazar (es), desestimar (es) (formal), inadmitir (es) (law)
• Swedish: avslå (sv), avvisa (sv), avfärda (sv), rata (sv)
• Telugu: తిరస్కరించు (te) (tiraskariñcu)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: reddetmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: відкида́ти impf (vidkydáty), відки́нути pf (vidkýnuty)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to refuse a romantic advance

• Hungarian: kikosaraz (hu)

Noun

reject (plural rejects)

1. Something that is rejected.
2. (derogatory slang) An unpopular person.
3. (informal) A rejected defective product in a production line.
4. (aviation) A rejected takeoff.

Synonyms

• (something that is rejected): castaway
• (an unpopular person): outcast, castaway, alien
• (rejected takeoff): RTO

Related terms

• rejection

Translations

something that is rejected

• Bulgarian: бракуван продукт m (brakuvan produkt)
• Finnish: rejekti, hylky (fi)
• Hungarian: selejt (hu), kiselejtezett/kiszuperált holmi

• Maori: paruranga, whakarerenga
• Plautdietsch: Aufgank m
• Polish: odrzut m
• Spanish: artículo defectuoso m

slang: an unpopular person

• Finnish: hylkiö (fi)

• Spanish: marginado (es) m, marginada (es) f