objectify
Americanverb (used with object)
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to present as an object, especially of sight, touch, or other physical sense; make objective; externalize.
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to treat (a person) as an object or thing.
Women are objectified and their physical attributes highlighted in ways that do not apply to men.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of objectify
Explanation
To objectify someone is to treat them as an object rather than as a human being. If your teacher thinks children should be seen and not heard, you might say he objectifies kids. There are many different ways to objectify a person, including forcing them to be silent, focusing on just their physical body and not their mind, or implying that their appearance or outward beauty is the only important thing about them. You can also use this verb's original meaning, "to take something abstract and make it concrete." Artists objectify abstract feelings and emotions by turning them into physical works of art, for example.
Vocabulary lists containing objectify
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"Myth as Structure in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon" by A. Leslie Harris
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I don’t want Rodrigo or anyone else to surrender the babydoll dress because a culture that’s never needed an excuse to objectify girls is concerned that it might objectify girls.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
"It is unacceptable for any visitor, foreign or local, to exploit or objectify indigenous communities or their children for any purpose, including photography," the ministry said in a statement cited by Informanté newspaper.
From BBC ● May 21, 2025
According to the team's authors, attempts to standardise and objectify the development and evaluation of chemical reactions are still quite new and relatively uncommon.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 10, 2024
Including the topic in medical education could “counteract an ever-present risk of medical injustices” and “the tendency to objectify patients and research participants,” the commission’s co-chairs told Science.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 15, 2023
By telling stories, you objectify your own experience.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
No doubt she feels judged and objectified by what must have felt like a confrontation.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
“Gaza’s inhabitants are objectified, reduced to numbers or blurry concepts. The media rarely shows unfiltered images or personal stories, because doing so would be too confronting for most viewers,” he said.
From Slate ● May 30, 2025
It apologised and said it had "further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used for its binding".
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2024
The library apologized, saying that it had “further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used for its binding.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2024
I hoped she didn’t think I objectified women.
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
It added that even if some viewers inferred innuendo, it did not contain explicit content or objectifying imagery.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
“So it’s not like she was objectifying you. She was actually looking to express something from within you and make sure that you’re so seated in your body that the collision can create something new.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
In English we ‘it’ the living world; the objectifying, de-personalizing pronoun.
From Salon ● May 28, 2025
If anything, this is a reminder that athletes are human, and, be they male or female, there is a distinct line between appreciating vs. objectifying and harassing.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 2, 2023
It is to the understanding Feuerbach attributes man's capacity for objectifying himself or of attributing to the outward world those qualities which really exist only within.
From George Eliot; a Critical Study of Her Life, Writings & Philosophy by George Willis Cooke
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
