Library / English Dictionary

DISMISS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Declare void

Example:

The President dissolved the parliament and called for new elections

Synonyms:

dismiss; dissolve

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "dismiss" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Verb group:

break up; dissolve (bring the association of to an end or cause to break up)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bar from attention or consideration

Example:

She dismissed his advances

Synonyms:

brush aside; brush off; discount; dismiss; disregard; ignore; push aside

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "dismiss" is one way to...):

reject (refuse to accept or acknowledge)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dismiss"):

cold-shoulder; slight (pay no attention to, disrespect)

discredit (cause to be distrusted or disbelieved)

shrug off (minimize the importance of, brush aside)

pass off (disregard)

flout; scoff (treat with contemptuous disregard)

turn a blind eye (refuse to acknowledge)

laugh away; laugh off (deal with a problem by laughing or pretending to be amused by it)

disoblige (ignore someone's wishes)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

dismissive (showing indifference or disregard)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cease to consider; put out of judicial consideration

Example:

This case is dismissed!

Synonyms:

dismiss; throw out

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

dismissal (a judgment disposing of the matter without a trial)

Sense 4

Meaning:

End one's encounter with somebody by causing or permitting the person to leave

Example:

I was dismissed after I gave my report

Synonyms:

dismiss; usher out

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "dismiss" is one way to...):

say farewell (say good-bye or bid farewell)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

dismissal (permission to go; the sending away of someone)

dismissive (stopping to associate with)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position

Example:

The company terminated 25% of its workers

Synonyms:

can; dismiss; displace; fire; force out; give notice; give the axe; give the sack; sack; send away; terminate

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "dismiss" is one way to...):

remove (remove from a position or an office)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dismiss"):

retire (make (someone) retire)

pension off (let go from employment with an attractive pension)

clean out (force out)

furlough; lay off (dismiss, usually for economic reasons)

squeeze out (force out)

dismiss; drop; send away; send packing (stop associating with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

dismissal (the termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart))

dismissible (subject to dismissal)

dismission (the termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart))

Sense 6

Meaning:

Stop associating with

Example:

They dropped her after she had a child out of wedlock

Synonyms:

dismiss; drop; send away; send packing

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "dismiss" is one way to...):

can; dismiss; displace; fire; force out; give notice; give the axe; give the sack; sack; send away; terminate (terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position)

Verb group:

drop (terminate an association with)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

He assisted her to dismount, and dismissing her guide, conducted her into the cottage.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Fanny's last meal in her father's house was in character with her first: she was dismissed from it as hospitably as she had been welcomed.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The printer one could, of course, dismiss.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My night was haunted by the thought that somewhere a clue, a strange sentence, a curious observation, had come under my notice and had been too easily dismissed.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Our cabs were dismissed, and, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The day which dismissed the music-master was one of the happiest of Catherine's life.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A 1912 report to the UK Parliament mentioned, but dismissed as a cause, the on-board fire.

(UK documentary claims fire weakened RMS Titanic, Wikinews)

The Hubble data are so precise that astronomers cannot dismiss the gap between the two results as errors in any single measurement or method.

(Measuring Growth of Universe Reveals a Mystery, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The researchers were able to dismiss a longstanding theory that a group called Paleoamericans existed in North America before Native Americans.

(Ancient DNA analysis unlocks secrets of Ice Age tribes in the Americas, University of Cambridge)

Here we dismissed our cab, and made our way up the drive together.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)