From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrejectre‧ject1 /rɪˈdʒekt/ ●●○ W2 AWL verb [transitive] 1 offer/suggestion/ideaREJECT/NOT ACCEPT to refuse to accept, believe in, or agree with something OPP accept Sarah rejected her brother’s offer of help.reject something as something Gibson rejected the idea as ‘absurd’. Dexter flatly rejected (=completely rejected) calls for his resignation. His proposal was rejected outright (=completely rejected).► see thesaurus at refuse2 not choose somebodyREJECT/NOT ACCEPT to not choose someone for a job, course of study etc OPP accept It’s obvious why his application was rejected.3 productTHROW AWAY to throw away something that has just been made, because its quality is not good enough If inspectors find a defective can, the batch is rejected.4 not love somebodyDON'T LIKE to refuse to give someone any love or attention Children feel abandoned or rejected if they don’t see their parents regularly.5 organHBHMH if your body rejects an organ, after a transplant operation, it does not accept that organCOLLOCATIONSadverbsreject something outright (=completely)He has not rejected the idea outright.firmly rejectThe British proposals were firmly rejected by the other EU countries.flatly reject (=in a firm and definite way)He flatly rejected the rebel’s demands.totally rejectMy client totally rejects the accusations.categorically/unequivocally reject (=in a definite way, leaving no doubt)We categorically reject their argument.unanimously reject (=when all members of a group reject something)The board unanimously rejected the proposal.decisively reject (=when most members of a group reject something)On May 21, the House decisively rejected the president’s proposed budget. → See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
reject• Under the stress of circumstance, the conventional wisdom is rejected.• Green or rotten apples are rejected.• Samantha had consistently rejected all Bob's offers of help.• As a child he was repeatedly rejected by both parents.• Jim was rejected by every college he applied to.• Mitchell was rejected by several law schools.• Ian was rejected by the army because of his bad eyesight.• Ceara rejected calls for his resignation.• She's scared to try to talk to him about it in case he rejects her again.• As an adult, she rejected her Catholic upbringing.• Lauren rejected her parents' offer of financial help.• He could not marry a girl of his own age and class, because her father would reject him.• Do the Opposition favour it or reject it?• Catherine rejected many suitable men before settling on Tom.• Several hundred people applied, but we had to reject nearly all of them.• Reportedly it was a soup-to-nuts A-to-Z kind of thing that ISVs rejected out of hand as offering them nothing.• Some scholars reject parts of the Gospel as untrue.• Lawmakers also rejected plans to use tobacco-tax money to provide health insurance for 100,000 children of the working poor.• People are free to accept or reject Stone's interpretation of the facts.• The audience is free to accept or reject Stone's interpretation of the facts.• Bush rejected suggestions that his tax cuts favored the most wealthy.• A design team rejected the aerospike concept as too risky.• It was predicted that the Senate would reject the bill by about 60 to 40.• Judge Gifford rejected the defense's request.• She rejected the idea that she should sue him.• Once again, in their view, the world would have rejected their country's claim to international respect.• Feminists rejected traditional notions of the role of women in society.flatly rejected• Mr Honecker, 77 and still recovering from a gall-bladder operation, has so far flatly rejected all notions of change.• Peres brought the plan to Shamir, who flatly rejected it.• He flatly rejected the pleas of Aung San to stand for election.• The army has flatly rejected these findings.rejectre‧ject2 /ˈriːdʒekt/ noun [countable] 1 BBREJECT/NOT ACCEPTa product that has been rejected because there is something wrong with it a shop selling cheap rejects2 someone who is not accepted or liked by another person, or by other people They felt that they were society’s rejects.Examples from the Corpus
reject• I got a rejection from Harvard, but I'm still waiting to hear from UCLA.• Of course, you always risk rejection when you first ask someone out.• Sometimes she began to question her outright rejection of her parents' values.• the rejection of the Equal Rights Bill by a small majority• the government's outright rejection of the proposals• And yet Eve had never had anything new, she knew that whatever dress she got for today would be a reject.• Zoe Ball's poor kid sounds like a reject from Carry On Chef.• Equipment is decrepit, training is inadequate and the conscripts, increasingly, are society's rejects.From Longman Business Dictionaryrejectre‧ject1 /rɪˈdʒekt/ verb [transitive]1to refuse to accept a request, suggestion, or offerThe Commerce Departmentrejected applications for 39 export licenses.Theproposals wererejected by a large majority.2HUMAN RESOURCESto refuse to accept someone for a job, course of study etcHe was rejected for the job because of his age.3COMMERCEto throw away or refuse to accept something that has been made because its quality is not good enoughA buyer may reject goods which do not conform to the sample. —rejection noun [countable, uncountable]The miners reversed their earlier rejection of the company’s proposals.After the job interview, the company sent her arejection letter wishing her luck in her search for work.→ See Verb tablerejectre‧ject2 /ˈriːdʒekt/ noun [countable] a product which is not good enough and will be thrown away or sold cheaplyIf the number of rejects exceeds this level, the batch is returned.Origin reject1 (1400-1500) Latin past participle of reicere “to throw back” 