subjectivity

noun

sub·​jec·​tiv·​i·​ty (ˌ)səb-ˌjek-ˈti-və-tē 

: the quality, state, or nature of being subjective

Any attempt to link landscapes and music together can suffer from some measure of subjectivity.

—David J. Keeling

He thinks that scientists and philosophers have unjustly neglected the subjectivity of conscious experience and that this has made it harder for them to explain some of the workings of the mind.

—Anthony Gottlieb

Examples of subjectivity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There is some level of subjectivity attached to each situation, including a player’s history of concussions as well as the severity of the active concussion. — Saad Yousuf, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2026

Rather than striving for some impossible degree of objectivity, Grossman and Herr embraced their own subjectivities. — Nick Holdstock, The Dial, 8 Sep. 2026

Psychologists talk about babies going through mirror stages as a step in their development of subjectivity. — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026

Silicon Valley insisted that their tools could finally eliminate uncertainty and subjectivity from juridical decision and instantiate a perfectly mathematical official antiracism in criminal justice. — Literary Hub, 24 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1803, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for subjectivity

• absorptivity
• affectivity
• collectivity
• conductivity
• connectivity
• corrosivity
• creativity
• diffusivity
• directivity
• effectivity
• emissivity
• exclusivity

Medical Definition

subjectivity

noun

sub·​jec·​tiv·​i·​ty ˌsəb-jek-ˈtiv-ət-ē 

plural subjectivities

1

: subjective character, quality, state, or nature

2

: the personal qualities of an investigator that affect the outcome of scientific or medical research (as by unconsciously communicating a bias to the subject of the experiment)