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

By the 1820s, objectivity and subjectivity were showing up in European dictionaries beside definitions that would seem familiar to us. —Vauhini Vara, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2025

The selection system is rife with subjectivity. —Miami Herald, 7 Dec. 2025

But the layer of the stack in which our subjectivities are formed, the place where our beliefs about the world are shaped, is also a battleground. —Hari Kunzru, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025

There is no subjectivity involved here. —Paul Taylor, New York Times, 2 Nov. 2025

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)