objective definition | Dictionary.com

ob⋅jec⋅tive

[uh

b-jek-tiv]

–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To objective

ob·jec·tive (əb-jěk'tĭv)

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.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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

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.

Language Translation for : objective

Spanish: objetivo, fin,

German: das Ziel,

Japanese: 目的

More Translations »

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.

Main Entry: ¹ob·jec·tive
Pronunciation: &b-'jek-tiv, äb-
Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, or being anobject, phenomenon, or condition in the realm of sensible experience independent of individual thought and perceptible by all observers <objective reality>
2 : perceptible to persons other than the affected individual objective symptom of disease> objective or subjective clinical improvement or both —Journal of theAmerican Medical Association> —compare SUBJECTIVE 2b —ob·jec·tive·ly adverb

Main Entry: ²objective
Function: noun
1 : a lens or system of lenses that forms an image of an object
2 : something toward whicheffort is directed

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.

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.

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