Other forms: dismissed, dismissing, dismisses
To dismiss an idea is to wave it away without giving it a proper look. The suggestion was dismissed in half a sentence; he dismissed the whole report with a shrug and went back to his coffee.
It takes as when you name what you are dismissing the thing as: dismissed the rumour as nonsense, dismissed the pain as nothing. Dismiss also means sending people away — a teacher dismisses the class, a judge dismisses a case, an employer dismisses a worker. That last one is the formal, legal word; in ordinary speech people say sacked or fired, and dismiss lives in contracts, tribunals and the phrase unfair dismissal. The adjective is dismissive, and it describes the manner rather than the decision: a dismissive wave, a dismissive tone. To dismiss something out of hand is to reject it before hearing it out.
1verbdismissTo refuse to take an idea seriously.
“Don't dismiss the plan before you have read it.”
synonyms: reject, brush aside
2verbsendTo send a group away, or allow them to leave.
“The teacher dismissed the class ten minutes early.”
3verbsackTo remove someone from their job.
“He was dismissed for repeated lateness.”
4verbcourtTo refuse, as a court, to consider a case any further.
“The judge dismissed the claim in under an hour.”
Dismiss comes from Latin dīmittō, 'to send away', built from dis-, 'apart', and mittere, 'to send'. English took the participle dimissus, 'sent away'. Every modern use keeps that push in it: a dismissed idea, a dismissed class and a dismissed employee are all being sent out of the room.
Latin
dīmittō
Middle English
dismissen//dismisen
English, today
dismiss
Built from
From Middle English dismissen//dismisen, from Latin dīmittō. Middle English, from Latin dimissus (“sent away, dismissed, banished”), perfect passive participle of dīmittō (“send away, dismiss”), from dis- + mittere.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA