dismiss

Middle English, from Latin dimissus (“sent away, dismissed, banished”), perfect passive participle of dīmittō (“send away, dismiss”), from dis- +‎ mittere (“to send”).

• IPA^(key): /dɪsˈmɪs/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪzˈmɪs/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: dis‧miss
• Rhymes: -ɪs

dismiss (third-person singular simple present dismisses, present participle dismissing, simple past and past participle dismissed)

2. (transitive) To discharge; to end the employment or service of.

   The company dismissed me after less than a year.

3. (transitive) To order to leave.

   The soldiers were dismissed after the parade.

4. (transitive) To dispel; to rid one’s mind of.

   He dismissed all thoughts of acting again.

5. (transitive) To reject; to refuse to accept.

   The court dismissed the case.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IV, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “He was here,” observed Drina composedly, “and father was angry with him.” ¶ “What?” exclaimed Eileen. “When?” ¶ “This morning, before father went downtown.” ¶ Both Selwyn and Lansing cut in coolly, dismissing the matter with a careless word or two; and coffee was served—cambric tea in Drina’s case.

   • 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 53:

     The late Professor Pat White was an outspoken critic. In his 1986 book Forgotten Railways, he dismissed as smoke and mirrors the oft-used argument that 33% of rail routes carried only 1% of the traffic, as it ignores the fact that a third of the national road network also only carried 2% of cars and lorries. But unlike rail, road got away with it because no mention was made of how much it cost the taxpayer to keep them usable.

6. (transitive) To invalidate; to treat as unworthy of serious consideration.

   By telling the victim to "get over it", the listener dismissed the victim's feelings.

   • 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:

     As for the IRP, Secretary of State Grant Shapps continues to peddle snake oil, smoke and mirrors. His reaction to near-universal IRP condemnation from politicians, local and national media, and all but a few rail specialists was to dismiss the lot of us (in the condescending and patronising tone we have now come to expect) as "critics and naysayers".

7. (transitive) To send or put away, to discard with disregard, contempt or disdain. (sometimes followed by as).

   She dismissed him with a wave of the hand.

8. (transitive, cricket) To get a batsman out.

   He was dismissed for 99 runs.

9. (transitive, sports, soccer) To give someone a red card; to send off.
   • 2010 December 28, Kevin Darlin, “West Brom 1-3 Blackburn”, in BBC:

     Kalinic later saw red for a rash tackle on Paul Scharner before Gabriel Tamas was dismissed for bringing down Diouf.

• (to end the employment or service of): see Thesaurus:lay off

• brush off
• send someone packing
• send someone to the showers

• dismissal
• dismissive
• dismission

• “dismiss”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.