Rejecting

How to spell rejecting

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce rejecting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rejecting mean?

1. verbRefusing to accept, consider, or agree to something or someone.

Rejecting in a sentence

• The committee is rejecting his proposal on cost grounds.

• The bank gave no clear reason for rejecting the loan application.

Where does rejecting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb reicere, often written rejicere, which was built from re- meaning 'back' and jacere meaning 'to throw', so the literal sense was 'to throw back'. The past participle stem rejectus gave rise to the idea of casting something away or refusing it, and by extension declining a person, an offer, or an idea. English took the verb in during the fifteenth century, partly through Old French and partly straight from the Latin scholarly forms, keeping the tell-tale 'ject' spelling that marks the throwing root. That same jacere sits inside a whole family of relatives such as 'eject' (throw out), 'project' (throw forward), 'inject' (throw in), and 'object' (throw against), which is a handy reminder that the silent-looking 'j' belongs there. The present participle 'rejecting' simply adds the ordinary -ing ending to that long-established stem.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• ject (from Latin jacere: to throw)
• -ing (present participle suffix)