objective

objective — noun

1. a result that a person, team, or company is working towards — for example, finis

1.nounB2
Definition

a result that a person, team, or company is working towards — for example, finishing a project on time, raising a certain amount of money, or winning a contract.

Example

The team's main objective this season is to win the championship trophy.

main / primary objective + to-infinitive

Maya wrote three clear objectives at the top of her business plan.

countable: list of objectives

Common collocations
  • main objective
  • primary objective
  • key objective
  • long-term objective
  • achieve an objective
  • meet an objective
  • set an objective
Synonyms
  • goal

    more general; used in sport, life plans, and everyday speech

  • aim

    slightly broader and less formal; can describe an underlying intention

  • target

    often a specific number or deadline you must hit

  • purpose

    the deeper reason behind an action, not the measurable end-point

Grammar Patterns

the objective of + noun

achieve / meet / reach an objective

Usage Note

Often appears in business, military, or planning contexts where a result is measurable. Frequently modified by 'main', 'primary', 'key', 'long-term', or 'short-term'. Distinguish from 'aim' (slightly less formal, often broader) and 'goal' (more general, used in everyday life and sports).

Common Mistakes

Our objective are to grow sales.
Our objectives are to grow sales.
countable noun; use plural verb agreement when the subject is plural.
She reached to her objective.
She reached her objective.
'reach' takes a direct object, not 'reach to'.

objective — adjective

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five words point to something a person wants to reach, but they sit at different levels of formality and specificity. 'Goal' is the most everyday and works for sport, study, careers, and life in general — 'my goal is to learn Japanese.' 'Objective' is more formal and shows up in business plans, military operations, and reports; it usually sounds measurable and time-limited, e.g. 'the project's main objective is to cut costs by 10%.' 'Aim' is slightly broader and softer than 'objective' — 'her aim was to help children read.' 'Target' usually names a specific number or deadline you must hit, like a sales target. 'Purpose' looks deeper — the underlying reason for doing something, not the end-point itself.

objective ↗goal ↗aim ↗target ↗purpose ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • main objective
  • primary objective
  • key objective
  • long-term objective
  • objective view
  • objective assessment
  • objective measure
  • objective opinion

Adverbs

  • completely objective
  • entirely objective
  • purely objective
  • fairly objective

Phrases

  • achieve an objective
  • meet an objective
  • set an objective
  • reach an objective
  • remain objective
  • stay objective

Prepositions

  • objective about
  • the objective of
  • objective in

Etymology

LatinMedieval LatinFrenchEnglish

Borrowed into English in the early 1600s from medieval Latin 'objectivus', built from 'object-' meaning 'something thrown in front of' (from 'ob-' 'in front of' + 'jacere' 'to throw'). At first the word was a philosophical term meaning 'belonging to the object that is observed' rather than to the observer, which is the root of today's 'fact-based, not coloured by feelings' sense. The 'goal' meaning, common in military and business writing, grew out of the same idea of an external thing one's effort is aimed at, and became established in the 1800s.