object

SayOB-jekt/ˈɑbd͡ʒɛkt/UK/ˈɒbd͡ʒɛkt/

As a verbuhb-JEKT

Pluralobjects

Verbobjects, objecting, objected

11 meanings of object

Practice

1
thingnouncountable
Something that exists in physical form but is not a living thing.
The detective examined every object on the desk for fingerprints.
Astronomers tracked a distant object moving slowly across the night sky.
Similaritem, thing, article
2
disagreeverbintransitive
To express disagreement with or opposition to something or someone, especially by raising a formal objection in court.
Defense attorneys object whenever a question seems unfair to the witness.
Many residents object strongly to the proposed highway through their town.
UsageUse to + noun or -ing: object to the plan, object to paying (not ~~incorrect: object to pay~~).
Similarprotest, complain
Oppositeagree, consent
3
nouncountable
A person or thing toward which a feeling, action, or attention is directed.
The young prince was the object of widespread admiration at court.
Their rival soon became the object of intense jealousy among the staff.
UsageUsually the object of + a feeling: the object of his affection, an object of ridicule.
Similartarget, focus, subject, recipient
4
nouncountablecomputing
In computing, any distinct thing that a program keeps, displays, or handles, for example a file, a picture, or a shape drawn on screen.
Select each object on the slide, then group them so they move together.
The cloud drive lists every stored object, from spreadsheets to photos, with its size and date.
Similaritem, element
Note
This is the user's word, covering anything on screen that can be selected and acted on: a shape on a slide, a photo in a document, a file in online storage. Selecting, grouping, moving and deleting objects is the everyday vocabulary of drawing and office software. Programmers keep a stricter meaning for an instance of a class, which bundles data with the code that handles it.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
In class-based object-oriented programming, an object is an instance of a class. docs.oracle.com
An object bundles data with associated behavior implemented in code. docs.oracle.com
5
goalnouncountable
The goal, end, or purpose toward which an effort is directed.
The object of the negotiations was a lasting ceasefire.
He pursued wealth as though it were the sole object of his life.
UsageUse the object of + noun + is to + verb: The object of the game is to win.
Similaraim, goal, purpose, target
Note
Nineteenth-century writers often used this meaning in a set phrase. If time or money "was an object," it was a real consideration, something that mattered to the person concerned. Thomas Fenner Curtis writes "if time were an object," and parliamentary reports use the same construction with money.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Nineteenth-century examples use time or money being an object to mean that it mattered as a consideration. en.wiktionary.org
Thomas Fenner Curtis wrote the exact words “if time were an object.” en.wiktionary.org
Parliamentary reports contain the same construction with money. en.wiktionary.org
6
programmingnouncountable
In programming, a specific instance created from a class or structure.
Calling the constructor returns a fully initialized object.
Each object keeps its own copy of the instance variables.
Similarinstance
Note
Programmers draw a firm line between a class and its objects. The class is the definition, and each object is one concrete thing built from it, holding its own values. You write a class, and you create, or instantiate, an object. The whole paradigm takes its name from this sense: object-oriented programming is programming organized around objects.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
Object-oriented programming is organized around objects, but these need not be instances created from classes; prototype-based programming also supports objects. developer.mozilla.org

Less common meanings

7
grammarnouncountable
The noun phrase that completes a verb or preposition, typically naming the receiver of the action in a sentence.
In the sentence 'Dogs chase cats', the word 'cats' is the object of the verb.
In passive sentences, what was the object becomes the grammatical subject.
Note
The grammarian's object is wider than the school picture of it. Prepositions take objects too: in "under the table," the table is the object of under. The receiver-of-the-action idea holds only typically. In "She resembles her mother," the object receives nothing at all. You identify an object by its grammatical role, not by its meaning, and you keep it distinct from the subject.
8
category theorynouncountable
In category theory, one of the two kinds of entity making up a category, connected by arrows called morphisms.
Every morphism in a category runs from one object to another.
A functor maps each object of one category to an object of another.
Note
Mathematicians use the word almost emptily here. An object need not be a set or have any inner structure the theory can see; what matters is the arrows between objects. In one familiar category, the objects are groups and the arrows are the homomorphisms from one group to another. Change the arrows and you have a different category, even with the same objects.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Objects in an abstract category need not be sets or have specified internal structure. en.wikipedia.org
Category theory studies objects through the morphisms between them. math.ucr.edu
The category of groups has groups as objects and group homomorphisms as arrows. en.wikipedia.org
The same objects can belong to different categories with different arrows. math.ucr.edu
9
verbobsoletetransitive
To put something forward as a criminal charge, accusation, or adverse reason against a person or thing.
He 'gan to him object his heinous Crime,
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
There are others who will object the poverty of the nation.
1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War
Note
Shakespeare's and Spenser's verb works the other way round from ours. A modern speaker objects to something, but the older verb took the charge itself as its direct object. Shakespeare writes "what dost thou object against the Duke of Norfolk," and Joseph Addison writes "object the poverty of the nation" (1708). The thing objected is the accusation, not its target. The construction is obsolete, replaced by the everyday verb.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
Spenser used object transitively with the accusation as its direct object. en.wikisource.org
The older construction takes the charge or objection, rather than its target, as the direct object. en.wiktionary.org
Shakespeare wrote the quoted words in Richard II; the character speaking is King Richard II. shakespeare.mit.edu
Addison wrote the quoted phrase. en.wiktionary.org
The original edition of Addison's The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation, Consider'd is dated 1708. writersinspire.org
In the cited construction, the thing objected is the accusation or objection. en.wikisource.org
10
verbobsoletetransitive
To set something before or against another; to bring it into opposition or interpose it as a barrier.
Pallas to their eyes / The mist objected, and condens'd the skies.
1725, Homer, The Odyssey of Homer
c. 1678, Richard Hooker, a sermon some strong impediment or other objecting itself
Note
The Latin "thrown against" image behind the physical object lies closest to the surface here: to object something was to put it in the way. In the Odyssey translated by Alexander Pope (1725), Pallas "the mist objected," setting fog before men's eyes. Like the accusing verb, it took a direct object, and it is now obsolete.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
Object derives from a Latin expression literally meaning 'thrown against'. en.wiktionary.org
The historical verb could mean to place something before or against something else. en.wiktionary.org
The quotation occurs in Book VII, translated by Alexander Pope, rather than in Broome's Book VIII. gutenberg.org
The volume containing this passage was first published in 1725. grubstreetproject.net
The text says 'The mist objected', with Pallas placing mist before people's eyes. gutenberg.org
Both the physical and accusing senses of the historical verb were transitive. en.wiktionary.org
11
nounobsolete
A sight or spectacle; the outward appearance or aspect of something as presented to the eye.
Note
Older poetry can trip up a modern reader here. In George Chapman's Batrachomyomachia, a figure advances to the edge of a lake and rises "in glorious object." The phrase means in a glorious appearance, a splendid sight, not a thing. The sense is obsolete, so use it only when quoting or deliberately imitating that older diction.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
George Chapman translated the Batrachomyomachia. archive.org
A figure approaches the lake and rises 'in glorious object'. archive.org
Object here means appearance or spectacle. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of object apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Latin iaciō ("I throw") combined with ob- ("against") to form obiciō ("I throw against"). Its perfect passive participle, obiectus, gave Medieval Latin obiectum ("object," literally "thrown against"), which was a calque of Ancient Greek ἀντικείμενον (antikeímenon). English took the word from Old French object, which came from the Latin.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Latin obiciō was formed from ob- (“against”) and iaciō (“I throw”). en.wiktionary.org
Obiectus is the perfect passive participle of obiciō. en.wiktionary.org
Medieval Latin obiectum, meaning “object,” literally “thrown against,” derives from obiectus. en.wiktionary.org
Obiectum was a calque of Ancient Greek ἀντικείμενον (antikeímenon). en.wiktionary.org
English object came through Old French object from Latin. en.wiktionary.org