objectify

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to treat a person as an object rather than as a complete human being

   The advertisement seemed to objectify its models.

2. 2
   verb

   to express an abstract idea in a concrete or visible form

   The sculpture seeks to objectify the artist's grief.

3. 3
   verb

   to regard or present something as objectively real

   The theory may objectify a feeling that is deeply personal.

Formed in English from object and -ify, ultimately drawing on Latin obiectum, ‘a thing presented to the mind.’ Its modern social sense emphasizes reducing a person to the status of a thing.

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