Objectionable

How to spell objectionable

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce objectionable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does objectionable mean?

1. adjectiveCausing disapproval, offence, or protest; unacceptable.

Objectionable in a sentence

• The committee removed the objectionable clause from the contract.

• Several viewers complained that the advert was deeply objectionable.

Where does objectionable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb obicere, formed from ob, meaning 'against' or 'in the way', and iacere, meaning 'to throw', so the literal idea was 'to throw something in the way' or 'to cast in front of'. From its past participle came the sense of putting forward an opposing point, which English absorbed through the noun 'objection' in the late Middle Ages. The adjective 'objectionable' was built later, around the eighteenth century, by adding the suffix -able to mean 'liable to be objected to' and therefore 'offensive or unacceptable'. The same iacere root, 'to throw', quietly powers a whole family of English words including 'reject' (throw back), 'eject' (throw out), 'project' (throw forward) and 'inject' (throw in). For spelling, it helps to see the tidy chain object, objection, objectionable, since the trap is remembering the -ion- before the -able rather than collapsing the middle.

How the word is built

• ob- (against)
• ject (root jacere: to throw)
• -ion (noun)
• -able (capable of, deserving)