Library / English Dictionary

REJECT

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality

Synonyms:

cull; reject

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("reject" is a kind of...):

deciding; decision making (the cognitive process of reaching a decision)

Derivation:

reject (reject with contempt)

reject (refuse entrance or membership)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dismiss from consideration or a contest

Example:

This possibility can be eliminated from our consideration

Synonyms:

eliminate; reject; rule out; winnow out

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Refuse to accept or acknowledge

Example:

The journal rejected the student's paper

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "reject" is one way to...):

evaluate; judge; pass judgment (form a critical opinion of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reject"):

disbelieve; discredit (reject as false; refuse to accept)

repudiate (refuse to acknowledge, ratify, or recognize as valid)

recuse (challenge or except to a judge as being incompetent or interested, in canon and civil law)

reprobate (reject (documents) as invalid)

disown; renounce; repudiate (cast off)

brush aside; brush off; discount; dismiss; disregard; ignore; push aside (bar from attention or consideration)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Antonym:

accept (consider or hold as true)

Derivation:

rejection (the act of rejecting something)

rejective (rejecting or tending to reject)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Reject with contempt

Example:

She spurned his advances

Synonyms:

disdain; freeze off; pooh-pooh; reject; scorn; spurn; turn down

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "reject" is one way to...):

decline; refuse (show unwillingness towards)

Verb group:

refuse; reject; turn away; turn down (refuse entrance or membership)

decline; pass up; refuse; reject; turn down (refuse to accept)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reject"):

rebuff; repel; snub (reject outright and bluntly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

reject (the person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality)

rejective (rejecting or tending to reject)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Deem wrong or inappropriate

Example:

I disapprove of her child rearing methods

Synonyms:

disapprove; reject

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "reject" is one way to...):

evaluate; judge; pass judgment (form a critical opinion of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reject"):

object (express or raise an objection or protest or criticism or express dissent)

deprecate (express strong disapproval of; deplore)

deter; discourage (try to prevent; show opposition to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

rejection (the act of rejecting something)

rejective (rejecting or tending to reject)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Refuse to accept

Example:

He refused my offer of hospitality

Synonyms:

decline; pass up; refuse; reject; turn down

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Verb group:

disdain; freeze off; pooh-pooh; reject; scorn; spurn; turn down (reject with contempt)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reject"):

dishonor; dishonour (refuse to accept)

bounce (refuse to accept and send back)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Sentence example:

They reject the money

Derivation:

rejection (the act of rejecting something)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Refuse entrance or membership

Example:

Black people were often rejected by country clubs

Synonyms:

refuse; reject; turn away; turn down

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Verb group:

disdain; freeze off; pooh-pooh; reject; scorn; spurn; turn down (reject with contempt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Antonym:

admit (allow to enter; grant entry to)

Derivation:

reject (the person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Resist immunologically the introduction of some foreign tissue or organ

Example:

His body rejected the liver of the donor

Synonyms:

refuse; reject; resist

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "reject" is one way to...):

react; respond (show a response or a reaction to something)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

If you have a transplant, you must take drugs the rest of your life to help keep your body from rejecting the new liver.

(Liver Transplantation, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little endeavour at civility, I am thus rejected.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Wolf Larsen, evidently, had sifted the great philosopher’s teachings, rejecting and selecting according to his needs and desires.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Then tell me—for I am student of the brain—how you accept the hypnotism and reject the thought reading.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was the same good friend whose warning I had so foolishly rejected.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The efforts by the host to reject a tumor, and the mechanisms by a tumor to evade recognition by the immune system.

(Host-Tumor Interaction, NCI Thesaurus)

The technique is particularly good at rejecting light from outside the plane of focus and so produces higher effective resolution than is normally achieved.

(Confocal Microscopy, NCI Thesaurus)

Transplantable colon tumor PROb grows progressively and metastasizes, whereas REGb grows slowly and is then rejected (Blottiere et al 1992a,b).

(BDIX, Rat Strain, NCI Thesaurus)

One further region – the amygdala, which is responsible for emotional responses – was particularly active when participants rejected gifts from the human-like, but not human, artificial agents.

(Scientists identify possible source of the ‘Uncanny Valley’ in the brain, University of Cambridge)

When the neuronal signal was stronger on the side reacting to cued color changes, the monkeys were better at reporting cued changes and rejecting foil color changes.

(Researchers discover neural code that predicts behavior, National Institutes of Health)