objective correlative

noun

: something (such as a situation or chain of events) that symbolizes or objectifies a particular emotion and that may be used in creative writing to evoke a desired emotional response in the reader

Examples of objective correlative in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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For the rest of us, the year was mainly defined by a months-long runny nose, a sort of objective correlative for our now-permanent sense of dread. —

oregonlive, 21 Dec. 2022 Saturday’s march is the objective correlative of that. —

David Zurawik, baltimoresun.com, 23 Mar. 2018

Word History

Etymology

Note: As a literary term introduced by T. S eliot in the essay "Hamlet and His Problems," The Athenaeum, no. 4665, September 26, 1919, p. 941. In a more general philosophical sense the phrase was used by Washington allston in a posthumously published "Lecture on Art" (Lectures on Art, and Poems, New York, 1850, p. 16).

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of objective correlative was in 1919

See more words from the same year

Dictionary Entries Near objective correlative

objective complement

objective correlative

objective idealism

See More Nearby Entries

Cite this Entry

Style

“Objective correlative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/objective%20correlative. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.

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