dismissal
Pronunciation
- /dɪˈsmɪs(ə)l/[1]
Etymology
It is formed from English dismiss + -al,[2][3][4][5] on the model of nouns such as refusal, committal and upheaval.[2][3] The verb dismiss is apparently from dīmissus, the past participle of Latin dīmittō (“to send away, send different ways; discharge”), from dis- (“apart, away”) and mittō (“to send, let go”);[3] its prefix was altered to dis- after the older verb dismit, from Old French desmetre.[2][3] The new noun replaced the more regular dismission, recorded from the 1540s, and the earlier dismissing.[3][2][4]
Earliest recorded meaning
The act of dismissing, or the state of being dismissed: Merriam-Webster dates the first known use to 1778,[6] Etymonline has it by 1795,[3] and the OED dates it before 1806, with a first quotation from Todd's 1818 edition of Johnson's dictionary.[2] The OED of 1888–1928 noted that it was in neither Johnson nor Ash.[7]
Semantic evolution
The OED treats dismissal as a recent equivalent of dismission that was tending to displace it, and refers to the older word for its senses;[2] its senses therefore follow those of dismission: removal from office or employment, sending a person or an assembly away, release from confinement, and putting something out of one's thoughts.[2][4] The Historical Thesaurus places it in the categories of removal from office, lack of work and causing to go away from before 1806, and of removal from authority from 1849.[8] Webster's Third added a church sense, the rite of dismissing a congregation after the Eucharist.[9][6] In Scots it was used in the same way as dismission.[10]
Timeline
- 1540s – dismission, the older noun.[3]
- 1778 – first known use of dismissal.[6]
- by 1795 – the act of dismissing, or the state of being dismissed.[3]
- before 1806 – dismissal from office or employment; sending away.[2][8]
- 1818 – first OED quotation, in Todd's edition of Johnson's dictionary.[2]
- 1849 – removal from authority.[8]
Modern meaning
Noun
- The act of dismissing someone from a job or position, or the fact of being dismissed: Her dismissal came two weeks after the audit.
- An official notice of discharge from employment or service.
- The act of sending someone away, or of giving them leave to go.
- The act of putting something out of one's thoughts or treating it as unworthy of consideration: his quick dismissal of the objections.
- (law) The rejection of a legal action or of a claim or charge made in it.
- (cricket) The putting out of a batsman.
- The rite of dismissing a congregation at the end of a eucharistic service.
Related words
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
- ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
- ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)