objectivity

Etymology

It is formed from English objective + -ity.^[2][3][4] Etymonline thinks it was probably modelled on the German word, which is recorded by 1788 in writing on Kant.^[5] The OED compares French objectivité, recorded in 1801, and obiectivitas in post-classical Latin, and notes the earlier English objectiveness.^[2] Objective goes back to Medieval Latin obiectivus,^[5][6][2] from obiectum (“object”).^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being objective, at first only in accounts of Kant's philosophy: Etymonline cites a London magazine of 1794 that thought the system "not likely to be introduced soon into, or ever to be much followed[,] in England".^[5] The OED's first quotation is from the Edinburgh Review of 1803.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English with German philosophy: in 1873 Fitzedward Hall listed objectivity with subjectivity, receptivity and other terms that had come into vogue over two generations through German philosophy and aesthetics.^[5] Its early senses covered externality, external reality and universal validity;^[5] in later use it means above all the ability to consider or present facts without being swayed by personal feelings or opinions.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1794 – the quality of being objective, in an account of Kant's philosophy.^[5] The OED's first quotation is from 1803.^[2]
• 1873 – noted as one of several philosophical terms that had come into vogue through German influence.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being objective; the ability to judge or present facts without bias or personal feeling: The reviewer praised the report for its objectivity.^[2][4][8]
2. External or material reality; things as they really are, apart from the mind.^[9][8]

Related words

• object
• objective
• subjectivity

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin