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reject

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English

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Etymology

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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”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To refuse to accept; to forswear.
    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[1], performed by Lenka:
      It's unexpected / It usually is / When you're rejected / Or you take a hit

Synonyms

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(refuse to accept):

Antonyms

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(antonym(s) of “refuse to accept”):

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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reject (plural rejects)

  1. Something that is rejected.
    • 1996, Jim Blinn, Jim Blinn's Corner: A Trip Down the Graphics Pipeline, page 127:
      Almost all line segments will be trivial accepts or trivial rejects, so the above covers the vast majority of cases.
  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.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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