as in abandoned
left unoccupied or unused
picked up the rejected toy to see what was wrong with it
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in denied
to be unwilling to grant
rejected his request for time off
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in refuted
to declare not to be true
I reject the claim that I have ever lied about that
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in discarded
to get rid of as useless or unwanted
sorted through the nuts and rejected any that had cracked shells or were shattered
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in refused
to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to
rejected his marriage proposal
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rejected
Susan Page, USA Today, 12 Jan. 2026
Demonstrators argued that taxpayer money should not be used to harm or kill innocent people and rejected claims that the killing of Good was an act of self-defense.
—Da Lin, CBS News, 11 Jan. 2026
The company contends the town rejected the plan without citing any safety or health hazard.
—Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 11 Jan. 2026
Alex Bregman was the one who got away, the All-Star third baseman the club tried to sign in spring training with a halfhearted contract proposal that would be rejected.
—Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2026
But last month, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously rejected that agreement, citing concerns about reliability of the grid to deliver electricity.
—Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2026
In Kansas City, voters on the Missouri side had the opportunity to keep the Chiefs in a modernized Arrowhead last April but rejected the 40-year extension of a tax similar to the 3/8-cent sales tax that has been used to fund both the football and baseball stadium complex.
—Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune, 10 Jan. 2026
Still, this is early days, and there have been similar drugs which looked promising at the beginning but were later rejected due to safety concerns, Nadar said.
—Sandee Lamotte, CNN Money, 8 Nov. 2025
The Port of San Diego rejected a proposal from the landing operator to renovate the aging facility.
—Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Nov. 2025
Verb
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a liberal Democrat with a pragmatist bent, instantly rejected the suggestion that Mamdani represented the new face of the Democratic Party.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for rejected
Adjective
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Rogers is shopworker Polly Parrish, who gets mistakenly identified as the parent of an abandoned baby.—
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Thousands of abandoned and derelict vessels around the US pose environmental and navigational challenges.—
Verb
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At the time, ICE had requested local officials hold him in jail, but that request was denied, the affidavit said.—
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The agency that was set to investigate before being denied access to evidence and case materials is called the Force Investigations Unit of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, part of the Department of Public Safety.—
Verb
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Trump administration claims that Good attacked or tried to run over ICE agents before the shooting have been refuted by the videos captured during the incident.—
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The New York Civil Liberties Union refuted Noem’s statements about sanctuary city laws.—
Verb
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The state also has an above average number of polluted waterways and more coal ash ponds — small, toxic water bodies near coal plants where poisonous refuse is discarded — than any other state.—
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By the 1970s, many of Lindsay’s policies were anchored more to his office and personality than to his party and were thus easily discarded upon executive turnover.—
Verb
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Google, Meta, Microsoft’s LinkedIn, and Elon Musk’s X have all delayed, adjusted, or flat-out refused to launch AI products because of the bloc’s laws.—
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And the defense refused to yield.—
Adjective
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Vargas nodded at the nearly deserted river.—
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Except for a few children kicking a ball and some chickens pecking the ground, the village seemed almost deserted.—
Verb
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Since the mandate, neural tube defects have dramatically declined in almost every single ethnic population except for Latinos, according to Jaffery.—
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Wiener declined to answer the question in either direction.—
Verb
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On June 15, the Red Sox dumped Devers and the remainder of his contract on the San Francisco Giants.—
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Less than two minutes later, on a fast break, Jalen Douglas faked a shot, then dumped the ball down low to Sims, who scored on a layup.—
Cite this Entry
“Rejected.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rejected. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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