Skip to content
Allin

object

nounverbcommon in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//ˈɒb.d͡ʒɛkt//
  • United States//ˈɑb.d͡ʒɛkt//
  • United States//əbˈd͡ʒɛkt//

A thing that has physical existence but is not alive.

noun

  1. 1

    A thing that has physical existence but is not alive.

  2. 2

    Objective; goal, end or purpose of something.

    Money is an Object to you? Money is an Object to me.

    And yet it may be proper to show that if time were an object, little, if any thing, would necessarily be gained by sprinkling in place of immersion, where a large number had to be baptized.

    […] to secure first-class men you must either hold out a temptation of money, if money is an object to them, or if it is not, then after a certain number of years' service, perhaps, some honour to be bestowed upon them; one or the other, I think, ought to be given to secure the best men that you can.

    I think, if a captain had plenty of time to spare, and was not going on to any other port, he would prefer going into harbor; but if time were an object with him, and he wished to get away as quickly as possible, he would go to the pier outside.

  3. 3

    The noun phrase which is an internal complement of a verb phrase or a prepositional phrase. In a verb phrase with a transitive action verb, it is typically the receiver of the action.

  4. 4

    A person or thing toward which an emotion is directed.

    Mary Jane had been the object of Peter's affection for years.

    The convertible, once the object of his desire, was now the object of his hatred.

    Where's your object of ridicule now?

  5. 5

    A person or thing toward which an emotion is directed. A cause for attention or concern.

    the object of a strongly worded censure

    Money is no object to him.

  6. 6

    An instantiation of a class or structure.

  7. 7

    An instance of one of the two kinds of entities that form a category, the other kind being the arrows (also called morphisms).

    Similarly, there is a category whose objects are groups and whose arrows are the homomorphisms from one group to another.

  8. 8

    obsoleteSight; show; appearance; aspect.

    c. 1610s, George Chapman, Batrachomyomachia He, advancing close / Up to the lake, past all the rest, arose / In glorious object.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁óp(i) Proto-Italic *op Latin ob Latin ob- Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-kt Proto-Indo-European *(H)yéh₁kt ~ *(H)ih₁kéntder. Latin iaciō Latin obiciō Latin obiectus Medieval Latin obiectum Old French objectbor. English object From Old French object, from Medieval Latin obiectum (“object”, literally “thrown against”), from obiectus, perfect passive participle of obiciō (“to throw against”), from ob- (“against”) + iaciō (“to throw”), as a calque of Ancient Greek ἀντικείμενον (antikeímenon). Doublet of objectum and objet.

verb

  1. 1

    To disagree with or oppose something or someone; (especially in a Court of Law) to raise an objection.

    I object to the proposal to build a new airport terminal.

    We strongly object to sending her to jail for ten years.

    “It’s only a few minutes from Nankang to Hsichih, my friends. Kindly make room for the lady,” the driver was all unctuous smiles, and spoke as though nobody was going to object after he had given the word.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo offer in opposition as a criminal charge or by way of accusation or reproach; to adduce as an objection or adverse reason.

    We thanke you both, yet one but flatters vs, As well appeareth by the cauſe you come, Namely, to appeale each other of high treaſon. Cooſin of Hereford, what doſt thou obiect Againſt the Duke of Norfolke, Thomas Mowbray?

    He 'gan to him object his heinous Crime,

    There are others who will object the poverty of the nation.

    The book […] giveth liberty to object any crime against any such as are to be ordered.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo set before or against; to bring into opposition; to oppose.

    early 17th century, Edward Fairfax, Godfrey of Bulloigne: or The recovery of Jerusalem. Of less account some knight thereto object, / Whose loss so great and harmful can not prove.

    c. 1678, Richard Hooker, a sermon some strong impediment or other objecting itself

    Pallas to their eyes / The mist objected, and condens'd the skies.

Forms

plural
objects
past tense
objected
past participle
objected
present participle
objecting
third person singular
objects
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).