fear of rejection
Acceptance anxiety syndrome
The fear of rejection is anxiety about being refused, excluded, or deemed unworthy by others.
It can inhibit social risk-taking—asking someone out, applying for jobs, sharing creative work, or expressing opinions.
Her fear of rejection kept her from submitting her novel to publishers.
The fear often persists even when actual rejection would be minor or unlikely.
- abandonmentAct of leaving permanently
- insecurityUncertainty about oneself
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
- lonelinessState of lacking companions
- shamePainful awareness of failure
inadequacy · not good enough · unworthiness · heartbreak · isolation · cold shoulder · disapproval · exclusion · humiliation · social anxiety · anxiety · self-doubt · avoidance · wallflower · ghosted · left on read · overlooked · dismissed
- timiditybashfulness, shyness, timidness, timorousness, meekness
- insecuritiesinsecurity, self-doubt, low self-esteem, inadequacy, inferiority
- teen anxietysocial anxiety, test anxiety, school anxiety, peer pressure, self-doubt
- social fearssocial anxiety, social phobia, shyness, self-consciousness, glossophobia
- vulnerabilitiesvulnerability, insecurity, weakness, self-doubt, flaw
- self-doubtinsecurity, inadequacy, low self-esteem, self-criticism, self-doubt
fear of rejectionconfidence
Self-assurance or trust
self-assurance · thick skin · boldness · fearlessness · nonchalance
fear of rejectionsecure attachment
Reliable caregiver-child emotional bond
self-assurance · emotional security · secure base · interdependence
fear, fears, feared, fearing, fearful, fearfully, fearfulness, fearless, fearlessly