# object

/ˈɑbdʒɛkt/ (US)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/object
Updated: 2026-07-22

## Senses

### 1. a physical thing

noun · CEFR A2

a physical thing that you can see and touch but is not alive.

For teachers: a material thing that can be seen and touched; a discrete physical entity.

- There was a strange metal object lying in the middle of the road.
- The archaeologists discovered several everyday objects, including pottery shards and bronze coins, buried beneath the floor of the villa.

### 2. a goal or purpose

noun · CEFR B2

the reason for doing something or the goal you want to reach.

For teachers: the goal, end, or purpose of a specific action or effort.

- The object of the game is to collect as many points as possible.
- The primary object of the new legislation is to reduce carbon emissions without harming the local manufacturing industry.

### 3. grammar

noun · CEFR B1 · Technical

the noun or pronoun in a sentence that receives the action of a verb.

For teachers: the noun phrase which is an internal complement of a verb phrase or a prepositional phrase.

- In the sentence 'I love pizza', the word 'pizza' is the object.
- Students often struggle to distinguish between the direct object and the indirect object when learning complex sentence structures.

Usage: In the sentence 'I kicked the ball', 'the ball' is the direct object.

### 4. target of emotion

noun · CEFR C1 · Formal

a person or thing that someone directs a strong feeling toward.

For teachers: a person or thing toward which a specific emotion or thought is directed.

- He became an object of pity after he lost his job and his house.
- The mysterious stranger soon became the object of intense curiosity among the villagers, who rarely saw newcomers in their small town.

### 5. computing

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a piece of data in a computer program that has its own properties.

For teachers: an instantiation of a class or structure within object-oriented programming.

- The programmer created a new object to represent the user's profile.
- In object-oriented design, each object encapsulates both data and the methods that operate on that data.

## Examples

- There is a strange object on the table.
- In the sentence 'The cat caught the mouse', the word 'mouse' is the direct object.
- The museum's collection includes several everyday objects from the Victorian era, alongside more specialized tools used in early industrial manufacturing.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.