object complement

object complement

Sometimes a verb is not complete with only a direct object, especially when that direct object is a person. More information about the object’s relationship with the verb is required to form a complete thought. This additional information is known as the object complement.

An object complement is a word or group of words that describes, renames, or completes the direct object of the verb; without one, we are left asking what about the state or condition of the direct object as a result of the verb.

An object complement can be a noun or noun phrase; an adjective or adjective phrase; a relative clause (also known as an adjective clause); an infinitive or infinitive phrase; or a participle or participle phrase.

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object complement

n.

A noun, adjective, or pronoun serving as a complement to a verb and qualifying its direct object, as governor in They elected him governor. Also called objective complement.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ob′ject com′plement

n.

a noun, noun phrase, pronoun, or adjective used in the predicate following a factitive verb and referring to or identified with its direct object, as treasurer in We appointed him treasurer or white in They painted the house white.

Also called objective complement.

[1905–10]

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