reject

From Late Middle English rejecten, from Latin rēiectus, past participle of reicere (“to throw back”), from re- (“back”) + iacere (“to throw”). Displaced native Old English āweorpan (literally “to throw out”).

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

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• (noun) enPR: rēʹjĕkt, IPA^(key): /ˈɹiː.d͡ʒɛkt/

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• Hyphenation: re‧ject
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

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

1. (transitive) To refuse to accept.

   She even rejected my improved offer.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     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.

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

   I've been rejected three times this week.

   • 2011, Lenka, Ben H. Allen (lyrics and music), “Roll with the Punches”, in Two‎, performed by Lenka:

     It's unexpected / It usually is / When you're rejected / Or you take a hit

(refuse to accept):

• abjure
• abnegate
• decline
• deny
• disown
• refuse
• repudiate
• say no
• turn down

(antonym(s) of “refuse to accept”):

• accept
• take up

• rejected landing
• rejected takeoff
• rejectee
• rejecter / rejector
• rejection
• rejectionist
• rejectionism
• rereject

reject (plural rejects)

1. Something that is rejected.
2. (derogatory, slang) An unpopular person.
3. (colloquial) A rejected defective product in a production line.
   • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 6:

     In all of India, China, Africa, and much of the southern American continent, those who had the leisure and wallet for fashion […] would have killed for the street merchandise of Manhattan, as also for […] the reject china and designer-label bargains to be found in downtown discount emporia.

4. (aviation) A rejected takeoff.

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