Meaning & use
subjectively
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Meaning
adverb
In a way that is based on personal feelings, opinions, or experiences rather than on facts.
Grammar: Modifies a verb or adjective: judge subjectively, subjectively true.
Patterns
- judge something subjectively
- see something subjectively
- subjectively + adjective
Taste is judged subjectively; what one person loves, another may hate.
He subjectively believed the film was the best of the year, though critics disagreed.
The report was criticized for being subjectively written.
Common combinations
- judge subjectively
- It is difficult to judge art subjectively without letting personal taste interfere.
- subjectively true
- What is subjectively true for you may not be true for others.
- view something subjectively
- We all view the world subjectively to some extent.
Synonyms and how they differ
- personally
- Personally means from one's own point of view, but it does not always imply a contrast with objective facts as strongly as subjectively does.
- emotionally
- Emotionally focuses on feelings, while subjectively focuses on the mind of the person making a judgment.
Opposites
Word family
- subjective adjective
- Based on personal feelings or opinions.
- subjectivity noun
- The quality of being based on personal feelings.
- subject noun
- A person or thing being discussed or studied.
Commonly confused: subjectively or objectively?
subjectively vs objectively
Objectively means based on facts and not influenced by personal feelings, the opposite of subjectively.
Practice
Choose the best word: The critic admitted that her review was ______ written, reflecting her own taste.
Choose one answer.
The adverb 'subjectively' describes writing based on personal feelings. 'Objectively' would mean the opposite; 'subject' is a noun or verb; 'subjective' is an adjective and would need a noun after it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “subjectively”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.