Objectivity

How to spell objectivity

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce objectivity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does objectivity mean?

1. nounThe quality of considering facts or judgements without being influenced by personal feelings or bias.

Objectivity in a sentence

• The auditor maintained complete objectivity when reviewing the company accounts.

• A good journalist strives for objectivity even when reporting on emotional topics.

Where does objectivity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb obicere, later spelled objicere, which combined ob- meaning 'towards' or 'before' with jacere meaning 'to throw'; literally it meant to throw something before someone, in the sense of presenting it to the mind. From this came the noun objectum, 'the thing thrown before' or presented to perception, which gave medieval Latin objectivus, used by philosophers to describe what belongs to the thing perceived rather than the perceiving mind. English picked up the adjective 'objective' in this technical philosophical sense in the seventeenth century, and the abstract noun 'objectivity' followed, meaning the quality of judging facts without personal bias. The same jacere root sits inside many relatives such as 'project', 'reject', 'inject', and 'eject', all of which involve throwing in some direction. The spelling keeps the hard 'ject' core intact, which helps explain why the 'j' is sounded clearly even though the surrounding vowels reduce to a schwa.

How the word is built

• ob- (towards, before)
• ject (from jacere: to throw)
• -ive (adjective suffix)
• -ity (noun suffix forming an abstract quality)