Adjacent Words

Dismiss definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DISMISS, v.t. [L.]
1. To send away; properly, to give leave of departure; to permit to depart; implying authority in a person to retain or keep. The town clerk dismissed the assembly.
2. To discard; to remove from office, service or employment. The king dismisses his ministers; the master dismisses his servant; and the employer, his workmen. Officers are dismissed from service, and students from college.
3. To send; to dispatch.
He dismissed embassadors from Pekin to Tooshoo Loomboo. [Improper.]
4. To send or remove from a docket; to discontinue; as, to dismiss a bill in chancery.
DISMISS, n. Discharge; dismission. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: bar from attention or consideration; "She dismissed his advances" [syn: dismiss, disregard, brush aside, brush off, discount, push aside, ignore]
2: cease to consider; put out of judicial consideration; "This case is dismissed!" [syn: dismiss, throw out]
3: stop associating with; "They dropped her after she had a child out of wedlock" [syn: dismiss, send packing, send away, drop]
4: terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position; "The boss fired his secretary today"; "The company terminated 25% of its workers" [syn: displace, fire, give notice, can, dismiss, give the axe, send away, sack, force out, give the sack, terminate] [ant: employ, engage, hire]
5: end one's encounter with somebody by causing or permitting the person to leave; "I was dismissed after I gave my report" [syn: dismiss, usher out]
6: declare void; "The President dissolved the parliament and called for new elections" [syn: dissolve, dismiss]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, modification of Latin dimissus, past participle of dimittere, from dis- + mittere to send Date: 15th century 1. to permit or cause to leave <dismissed the visitors> 2. to remove from position or service ; discharge <dismissed the thievish servant> 3. a. to reject serious consideration of <dismissed the thought> b. to put out of judicial consideration <dismissed all charges> • dismission noun • dismissive adjective • dismissively adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 a tr. send away, cause to leave one's presence, disperse; disband (an assembly or army). b intr. (of an assembly etc.) disperse; break ranks. 2 tr. discharge from employment, office, etc., esp. dishonourably. 3 tr. put out of one's thoughts; cease to feel or discuss (dismissed him from memory). 4 tr. treat (a subject) summarily (dismissed his application). 5 tr. Law refuse further hearing to (a case); send out of court. 6 tr. Cricket put (a batsman or a side) out (was dismissed for 75 runs). 7 intr. (in imper.) Mil. a word of command at the end of drilling. Derivatives: dismissal n. dismissible adj. dismission n. Etymology: ME, orig. as past part. after OF desmis f. med.L dismissus (as DIS-, L mittere miss- send)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dismiss Dis*miss", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dismissed; p. pr. & vb. n. Dismissing.] [L. dis- + missus, p. p. of mittere to send: cf. dimittere, OF. desmetre, F. d['e]mettre. See Demise, and cf. Dimit.] 1. To send away; to give leave of departure; to cause or permit to go; to put away. He dismissed the assembly. --Acts xix. 41. Dismiss their cares when they dismiss their flock. --Cowper. Though he soon dismissed himself from state affairs. --Dryden. 2. To discard; to remove or discharge from office, service, or employment; as, the king dismisses his ministers; the matter dismisses his servant. 3. To lay aside or reject as unworthy of attentions or regard, as a petition or motion in court.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dismiss Dis*miss", n. Dismission. [Obs.] --Sir T. Herbert.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dismisses, dismissing, dismissed) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you dismiss something, you decide or say that it is not important enough for you to think about or consider. Mr Wakeham dismissed the reports as speculation... I would certainly dismiss any allegations of impropriety by the Labour Party... = discount VERB: V n as n, V n 2. If you dismiss something from your mind, you stop thinking about it. I dismissed him from my mind... 'It's been a lovely day,' she said, dismissing the episode. = banish VERB: V n from n, V n 3. When an employer dismisses an employee, the employer tells the employee that they are no longer needed to do the job that they have been doing. ...the power to dismiss civil servants who refuse to work... = sack, fire VERB: V n 4. If you are dismissed by someone in authority, they tell you that you can go away from them. Two more witnesses were called, heard and dismissed... VERB: be V-ed 5. When a judge dismisses a case against someone, he or she formally states that there is no need for a trial, usually because there is not enough evidence for the case to continue. An American judge yesterday dismissed murder charges against Dr Jack Kevorkian. ...their attempt to have the case against them dismissed. VERB: V n, have n V-ed

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Send away, give leave to go, permit to go. 2. Discharge, discard, cashier, turn off, turn out, remove from office, turn adrift, send packing, send about one's business.

Moby Thesaurus

abandon, abjure, absolve, acquit, amnesty, answer, answer conclusively, argue down, ax, banish, beat back, belittle, boot, boot out, bounce, bow out, break, break up, brush aside, brush off, bump, bundle, bundle off, bust, can, cashier, cast, cast loose, chase, chase away, chase off, chuck, chuck out, clear, confound, confute, contemn, contradict, controvert, crush, cut, cut dead, deactivate, debrief, decline, deconsecrate, decontaminate, defeat, defrock, degrade, demob, demobilize, demolish, demote, deny, deplume, depose, deprive, deride, deselect, despise, destigmatize, detach, dethrone, diminish, disapprove, disband, disbar, discard, discharge, disclaim, discount, discrown, disdain, disemploy, disenthrone, disintegrate, disorganize, disown, dispense from, disperse, displace, displume, dispose of, disregard, dissolve, drive away, drive back, drop, drop the subject, drum out, eject, evict, except, exclude, excommunicate, exculpate, excuse, exempt, exempt from, exonerate, expel, extrude, fend off, finish, fire, floor, flout, forget, forget about it, forget it, forgive, forswear, free, furlough, gibe, gird, give absolution, give the air, give the ax, give the gate, give the go-by, go bail for, go separate ways, grant amnesty to, grant bail to, grant immunity, grant remission, have done with, hold off, hustle out, ignore, jeer, justify, keep off, kick, kick out, kick upstairs, lay aside, lay off, let go, let go free, let it go, let loose, let off, let out, let slip, liquidate, look right through, make little of, make redundant, mock, muster out, neglect, nonplus, nonpros, oust, out, overlook, overthrow, overturn, overwhelm, pack off, pardon, parole, parry, part, part company, pass by, pass up, pension, pension off, pooh-pooh, purge, push aside, push back, put aside, put away, put back, put on parole, put to silence, quash the charge, rally, read out of, rebuff, rebut, recant, reduce to silence, refuse, refuse to acknowledge, refuse to consider, refuse to recognize, refute, reject, release, remit, remove, remove from office, renounce, repel, replace, reprobate, repudiate, repulse, retire, ridicule, riff, sack, scatter, scoff, scorn, scout, send away, send off, send packing, separate, separate forcibly, set aside, set free, settle, shed, shove away, show the door, show the gate, shrive, shrug off, shut up, silence, slight, slough, smash all opposition, sneeze at, snub, split up, spurn, squash, squelch, strip, strip of office, strip of rank, subvert, superannuate, surplus, suspend, taunt, terminate, think nothing of, throw away, throw out, thrust aside, thrust back, toss out, turn away, turn away from, turn back, turn down, turn off, turn out, twit, unchurch, undermine, unfrock, unhand, unmarry, unsaddle, unseat, unthrone, upset, vindicate, waive, ward off, whitewash, withdraw the charge, write off