object
Those who found the object object to giving it back.
'Object' is a stress-shift heteronym in which both vowels trade places: the noun OB-ject (/ˈɑːbdʒɪkt/) names a thing you can point to, while the verb ob-JECT (/əbˈdʒɛkt/) means to protest — and the syllable carrying the full vowel flips along with the stress. In the sentence, the finders of the object (noun) immediately object (verb) to surrendering it, so the same six letters are spoken two different ways back-to-back. The adjacency compresses possession and protest into a single breath.
Meanings
A material thing that can be seen or touched; also, a person or thing toward which action, thought, or feeling is directed, or a goal one aims at.
- The museum catalogued every object recovered from the wreck.
- Her object all along was a quiet retirement by the sea.
To express opposition or disapproval; to present a reason against a proposal or statement.
- The defense attorney rose to object to the question.
- Nobody objected when the meeting ran long.
Word origin
From Latin 'obiectum' ('a thing put before' the mind or senses), the past participle of 'obicere', built from 'ob-' (against, toward) and 'iacere' (to throw). To object is literally to throw something against a proposal; an object is the thing thrown before your attention. English acquired both senses in the fourteenth century through Old French and medieval Latin.
Fun fact
The Latin root 'iacere' (to throw) built a whole family of English words that differ only by prefix — 'reject' (throw back), 'inject' (throw in), 'eject' (throw out), 'project' (throw forward), 'subject' (throw under). 'Object' stands out even within that family because BOTH of its vowels change with the stress shift: the noun reduces the second syllable (/ˈɑːbdʒɪkt/), the verb reduces the first (/əbˈdʒɛkt/), so the schwa literally switches sides of the word.