dismissed

Dismissed is the past participle and adjective of the verb dismiss. It is used to indicate that something has been terminated, rejected, or released from consideration or obligation. The term is common in legal, employment, and administrative contexts, and its precise meaning depends on jurisdiction and context.

In employment law, dismissal refers to the termination of an employee’s contract by an employer. Reasons can include redundancy, performance issues, or misconduct. Specific forms include summary dismissal, where termination occurs immediately for serious misconduct. Constructive dismissal occurs when an employer’s breach of contract makes continued employment impossible, leading the employee to resign and treat it as a dismissal. In some jurisdictions, at-will employment allows termination without cause, subject to contract or statutory protections.

In the legal system, dismissal is a court’s decision to end a case or claim. Dismissals can be with prejudice, which generally bars the same claim from being pursued again, or without prejudice, which allows the action to be brought again in the future. They can be voluntary (initiated by the plaintiff or defendant) or involuntary, often for procedural reasons such as lack of jurisdiction, failure to state a claim, improper venue, or failure to prosecute.

The term is also used more broadly to indicate that a proposal, idea, or item has been rejected or disregarded, as in a motion being dismissed or a matter dismissed as irrelevant.

Etymology: dismissed derives from Old French desmis, desmettre, meaning to release or send away, from Latin dismittere, dis- + mittere, to send.