What does rejector mean?
A rejector is a person who rejects something: a proposal, application, candidate, offer, belief, or other proposition. The word emphasizes the person or role rather than the rejected item itself. It is most natural when someone deliberately refuses to accept or approve something, although it can also suggest categorical opposition without implying hostility. For example, a committee member who refuses to support a plan may be described as a rejector of that plan. In general usage, rejecter is more common, while rejector has a somewhat formal or specialized tone and appears especially in legal, administrative, and editorial contexts. The plural rejectors is standard. The word is also occasionally used more broadly for a person or mechanism that refuses admission, but its primary modern sense concerns a person who says no.
nounA person who rejects or refuses to accept, approve, or acknowledge something.
- A person who refuses to accept, approve, or acknowledge something.
- A person who opposes or rejects a proposal, application, candidate, or course of action.
"The committee remained unmoved despite the objections of several rejectors of the proposal."
"Every rejector of the plan was invited to explain their objections at the public meeting."
"The manuscript was returned after the editor identified it as unsuitable, but the rejector offered no specific criticism."
The regular plural is rejectors; rejectors' decisions is the standard possessive form when referring to multiple people and their decisions.
"The rejectors maintained that the proposal had not been properly evaluated."
A rejector has one defining role: to say no, however firmly the case for saying yes may sound.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does rejector come from?
The word was formed in English from reject plus the agent suffix -or. Reject ultimately comes from Latin re-, meaning back, and jacere, meaning to throw, giving the original sense of throwing back. The same Latin root appears in words such as eject, deject, and projectile. The agent-forming pattern is productive in English, as seen in inspector, collector, and director.
Related word forms
How rejector is actually used
This noun is relatively uncommon in contemporary English. The more familiar forms are rejecter and, depending on context, refuser, objector, or opponent. It can sound formal or categorical, especially when describing someone who has definitively turned down a proposal or offer.
Easily confused with rejector
Both words mean a person who rejects something, but rejector is less common and rejecter is the more usual modern form.