What word is properly used to mean "rejecting" a phone call?
Is there a standard word that means some one has rejected a phone call? I have been saying it this way:
She has rejected the call.
Is there a more appropriate word to use instead of rejected in the above sentence?
Was the rejection made after caller and recipient communicated directly with each other after initial connection has been completed?
(IMHO) I can see how this might be "She declined the call" if recipient proactively but politely informed the caller that she did not wish to participate on this occasion. "Suzie declined to participate in the survey."
"She refused the call" if the recipient informed the caller either directly or through a proxy that she would not continue. "Suzie told her assistant to refuse the call and charges."
"She rejected the call" feels like it may involve the recipient not communicating her wishes directly with the caller to cease communication. "Suzie programmed her iphone to reject my call."
In my opinion if one wants to be polite it is better to avoid these two words altogether. Alternatives are:
She is not taking any calls at the moment.
she did not take my call.
Replacing refuse and reject with not taking calls makes it more neutral and polite - in my opinion.
I would not say that there is any one word that is required here. A number of different words might suit your purpose, depending on the exact sense of what you mean to say.
Reject can be used, although admittedly that may not be the most commonly used word here.
Perhaps the most commonly used word here would be refused the call (or refused to take the call).
To reiterate, there are options. One example would be this: Perhaps you wish to emphasize that she simply did not want to pay attention to the call at all. In that case, you might say she ignored the call.