From Late Middle English rejecten, from Latin rēiectus, past participle of reicere, from re- ("back") + iacere.

• (verb) enPR: rĭjĕktʹ, IPA: /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkt/
• (noun) enPR: rēʹjĕkt, IPA: /ˈɹiː.d͡ʒɛkt/

reject (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.

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

• accept
• take up

• French: rejeter
• German: verwerfen, ablehnen, zurückweisen
• Italian: respingere, rifiutare
• Portuguese: rejeitar
• Russian: отверга́ть
• Spanish: rechazar, desestimar (formal), inadmitir (law)

• Spanish: chotear (Peru)

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

• Spanish: artículo defectuoso

• Spanish: marginado, marginada