Reject Meaning
/ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo refuse to accept; to forswear.
verbTo block a shot, especially if it sends the ball off the court.
Sentence Examples
For love is something you can't reject.
I do not want to reject this claim.
The committee had to reject the proposal due to budget constraints.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The committee voted to ____ the proposal due to major budget issues.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The committee decided to ____ the proposal because it did not meet the required criteria.
Word Origin & History
From Late Middle English rejecten, from Latin reiectus, past participle of reicere (“to throw back”), from re- (“back”) + iacere (“to throw”). Displaced native Old English āweorpan (literally “to throw out”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 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:
"It's unexpected / It usually is / When you're rejected / Or you take a hit"
— 2011, Lenka, Ben H. Allen, “Roll with the Punches”, in Two, performed by Lenka:
"Almost all line segments will be trivial accepts or trivial rejects, so the above covers the vast majority of cases."
— 1996, Jim Blinn, Jim Blinn's Corner: A Trip Down the Graphics Pipeline, page 127:
"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."
— 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 6:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The committee voted to ____ the proposal due to major budget issues.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The committee decided to ____ the proposal because it did not meet the required criteria.