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

The stakes of the show didn’t just expand to include the malefactor’s subjectivity and despair. —Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2023

The researchers are well aware of the subjectivity and individuality of the sense of smell. —IEEE Spectrum, 4 Sep. 2023

Earlier this year, Associated Press Investigative Journalist Garance Burke reported that experts said the override system could bring subjectivity into increasingly consequential decisions. —Kennedy Sessions, Chron, 8 Feb. 2023

Raising the salary threshold would make this practice less common by eliminating the subjectivity in determining which workers should receive overtime pay. —Noam Scheiber, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2023

Some states have intervened to take subjectivity out of the process. —Collin Binkley, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2023

How to lasso multiple perspectives, and subjectivities, into a single term? —E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 14 July 2023

Bias and subjectivity: Reddit attracts users from various backgrounds and viewpoints, so the information shared can be subjective and influenced by personal opinions or biases. —Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 22 June 2023

The work’s serene precision and contemplative subjectivity emerged during a period of epochal upheaval in Denmark. —Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1803, in the meaning defined above

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)