Object

An object is a thing that can be perceived or conceived. In everyday use, objects include physical items such as a chair or a rock, as well as abstract entities such as a plan or goal. The word traces to the Latin objectum, meaning "something thrown before" or "purpose."

In philosophy, an object is what is presented to a subject in perception or thought. It is contrasted with the subject, which is the perceiver. The study of how objects are known—through sensation, representation, or concepts—forms a core part of epistemology and ontology. Objects may be considered in relation to properties, relations, and causation.

In grammar, an object is a syntactic element that receives the action of a verb. A direct object answers whom or what after a transitive verb (e.g., "She read the book"). An indirect object designates to whom or for whom the action is performed (e.g., "She gave him a book").

In physics and everyday discourse, a physical object is a bounded region of matter with mass and inertia that occupies space. Objects interact through forces, move according to dynamics, and can be composed of smaller objects.

In computer science, an object is an instance of a class in object-oriented programming. Objects encapsulate data (attributes) and code (methods), and interact with other objects. Core concepts include encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism; objects enable modularity and reuse.

Summary: Across disciplines, "object" denotes a thing that can be identified, described, and related to a subject, whether in perception, language, physical reality, or computation.