Pronunciation: ə b- ' jek-tiv, äb-
Function: adjective
Date: 1647
1 a : relating to or existing as an object of thought without consideration of independent existence ― used chiefly in medieval philosophy b : of, relating to, or being an object, phenomenon, or condition in the realm of sensible experience independent of individual thought and perceptible by all observers : having reality independent of the mind < objective reality> <our reveries ⋯ are significantly and repeatedly shaped by our transactions with the objective world ― Marvin Reznikoff> ― compare SUBJECTIVE 3a c of a symptom of disease : perceptible to persons other than the affected individual ― compare SUBJECTIVE 4c d : involving or deriving from sense perception or experience with actual objects, conditions, or phenomena < objective awareness> < objective data>
2 : relating to, characteristic of, or constituting the case of words that follow prepositions or transitive verbs
3 a : expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortion by personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations < objective art> <an objective history of the war> <an objective judgment> b of a test : limited to choices of fixed alternatives and reducing subjective factors to a minimum
synonyms see MATERIAL , FAIR
– ob · jec · tive · ly adverb
– ob · jec · tive · ness noun
– ob · jec · tiv · i · ty \ ˌ äb- ˌ jek- ' ti-v ə -t ē , ə b- \ noun