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8 dictionary results for: Objective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ob·jec·tive

[uh

b-jek-tiv] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	something that one's efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target: the objective of a military attack; the objective of a fund-raising drive.

Grammar.

a.	Also called objective case. (in English and some other languages) a case specialized for the use of a form as the object of a transitive verb or of a preposition, as him in The boy hit him, or me in He comes to me with his troubles.

b.	a word in that case.

Also called object glass, object lens, objective lens. Optics. (in a telescope, microscope, camera, or other optical system) the lens or combination of lenses that first receives the rays from the object and forms the image in the focal plane of the eyepiece, as in a microscope, or on a plate or screen, as in a camera.

–adjective

4.	being the object or goal of one's efforts or actions.

5.	not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased: an objective opinion.

6.	intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings, as a person or a book.

7.	being the object of perception or thought; belonging to the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject (opposed to subjective).

8.	of or pertaining to something that can be known, or to something that is an object or a part of an object; existing independent of thought or an observer as part of reality.

Grammar.

a.	pertaining to the use of a form as the object of a transitive verb or of a preposition.

b.	(in English and some other languages) noting the objective case.

c.	similar to such a case in meaning.

d.	(in case grammar) pertaining to the semantic role of a noun phrase that denotes something undergoing a change of state or bearing a neutral relation to the verb, as the rock in The rock moved or in The child threw the rock.

10.	being part of or pertaining to an object to be drawn: an objective plane.

11.	Medicine/Medical. (of a symptom) discernible to others as well as the patient.

[Origin: 1610–20; < ML objectīvus, equiv. to L object(us) (see object) + -īvus -ive

]

—Related forms

ob·jec·tive·ly, adverb

ob·jec·tive·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. object, destination, aim. 5. impartial, fair, impersonal, disinterested.

—Antonyms 5. personal.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ob·jec·tive (əb-jěk'tĭv) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Of or having to do with a material object.
Having actual existence or reality.
1. Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices: an objective critic. See Synonyms at fair¹.
2. Based on observable phenomena; presented factually: an objective appraisal.
3. Of, relating to, or being the case of a noun or pronoun that serves as the object of a verb.
4. Of or relating to a noun or pronoun used in this case.
Medicine Indicating a symptom or condition perceived as a sign of disease by someone other than the person affected.
Grammar
1. Of, relating to, or being the case of a noun or pronoun that serves as the object of a verb.
2. Of or relating to a noun or pronoun used in this case.

Something that actually exists.
Something worked toward or striven for; a goal. See Synonyms at intention.
Grammar
1. The objective case.
2. A noun or pronoun in the objective case.
The lens or lens system in a microscope or other optical instrument that first receives light rays from the object and forms the image. Also called object glass, objective lens, object lens.

ob·jec'tive·ly adv., ob·jec'tive·ness n.

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
objective

1620, originally in the philosophical sense of "considered in relation to its object" (opposite of subjective), formed on pattern of M.L. objectivus, from objectum "object" (see object (n.)). Meaning "impersonal, unbiased" is first found 1855, influenced by Ger. objektiv. The noun is 1738, with sense of "something objective to the mind;" meaning "goal, aim" is first as a military term from the U.S. War Between the States, 1864 (in objective point), from Fr.; general use of it is first attested 1881. Objectivism in philosophical sense of "the doctrine that knowledge is based on objective reality" is first attested 1854.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

objective
adjective
1.	undistorted by emotion or personal bias; based on observable phenomena; "an objective appraisal"; "objective evidence" [ant: subjective]
2.	serving as or indicating the object of a verb or of certain prepositions and used for certain other purposes; "objective case"; "accusative endings"
3.	emphasizing or expressing things as perceived without distortion of personal feelings, insertion of fictional matter, or interpretation; "objective art"
4.	belonging to immediate experience of actual things or events; "objective benefits"; "an objective example"; "there is no objective evidence of anything of the kind"
noun
1.	the goal intended to be attained (and which is believed to be attainable); "the sole object of her trip was to see her children" [syn: aim]
2.	the lens or system of lenses in a telescope or microscope that is nearest the object being viewed

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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

objective (əb-jěk'tĭv) Pronunciation Key

The lens or mirror in a microscope or other optical instrument that first receives light rays from the object and forms the image.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

objective ob·jec·tive (əb-jěk'tĭv)
n.
The lens or lenses in the lower end of a microscope or other optical instrument that first receives light rays from the object being examined and forms its image. adj.

Based on observable phenomena; presented factually.
Indicating a symptom or condition perceived as a sign of disease by someone other than the person affected.

ob·jec'tive·ness n.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Objective

Ob*jec"tive\, a. [Cf.F. objectif.]

1. Of or pertaining to an object.

2. (Metaph.) Of or pertaining to an object; contained in, or having the nature or position of, an object; outward; external; extrinsic; -- an epithet applied to whatever ir exterior to the mind, or which is simply an object of thought or feeling, and opposed to subjective.

In the Middle Ages, subject meant substance, and has this sense in Descartes and Spinoza: sometimes, also, in Reid. Subjective is used by William of Occam to denote that which exists independent of mind; objective, what is formed by the mind. This shows what is meant by realitas objectiva in Descartes. Kant and Fichte have inverted the meanings. Subject, with them, is the mind which knows; object, that which is known; subjective, the varying conditions of the knowing mind; objective, that which is in the constant nature of the thing known. --Trendelenburg.

Objective means that which belongs to, or proceeds from, the object known, and not from the subject knowing, and thus denotes what is real, in opposition to that which is ideal -- what exists in nature, in contrast to what exists merely in the thought of the individual. --Sir. W. Hamilton.

Objective has come to mean that which has independent exostence or authority, apart from our experience or thought. Thus, moral law is said to have objective authority, that is, authority belonging to itself, and not drawn from anything in our nature. --Calderwood (Fleming's Vocabulary).

3. (Gram.) Pertaining to, or designating, the case which follows a transitive verb or a preposition, being that case in which the direct object of the verb is placed. See Accusative, n.

Note: The objective case is frequently used without a governing word, esp. in designations of time or space, where a preposition, as at, in, on, etc., may be supplied.

My troublous dream [on] this night make me sad. --Shak.

To write of victories [in or for] next year. --Hudibras.

Objective line (Perspective), a line drawn on the geometrical plane which is represented or sought to be represented.

Objective plane (Perspective), any plane in the horizontal plane that is represented.

Objective point, the point or result to which the operations of an army are directed. By extension, the point or purpose to which anything, as a journey or an argument, is directed.

Syn: Objective, Subjective.

Usage: Objective is applied to things exterior to the mind, and objects of its attention; subjective, to the operations of the mind itself. Hence, an objective motive is some outward thing awakening desire; a subjective motive is some internal feeling or propensity. Objective views are those governed by outward things; subjective views are produced or modified by internal feeling. Sir Walter Scott's poetry is chiefly objective; that of Wordsworth is eminently subjective.

In the philosophy of mind, subjective denotes what is to be referred to the thinking subject, the ego; objective what belongs to the object of thought, the non-ego. --Sir. W. Hamilton

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Objective

Ob*jec"tive\, n. 1. (Gram.) The objective case.

2. An object glass. See under Object, n.

3. Same as Objective point, under Objective, a.

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