object lesson

noun

ob·​ject lesson ˈäb-jikt- How to pronounce object lesson (audio)
-(ˌ)jekt-
: something that serves as a practical example of a principle or abstract idea

Examples of object lesson in a Sentence

His life story is an object lesson in how not to run a business.
Recent Examples on the Web Reading even one return — let alone the 250 or so that the Rancho students put their hands on last year — is a kind of object lesson in personal finance. Ron Lieber, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2024 Become a Subscriber But The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived, a briskly told biography of Thomas J. Watson Jr., IBM’s mid-20th-century CEO, makes clear that the history of the company offers much more than an object lesson about complacent Goliaths. Deborah Cohen, The Atlantic, 13 Dec. 2023 The last two years have offered an object lesson in how unresponsive the fossil fuel industry, in particular, is to prices. Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 8 Feb. 2023 Starting next year, even Happy Meal toys will be made out of cardboard, which makes Happy Meals another object lesson for cardboard-as-public-morality. Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2023 But here is an object lesson for investors and the American public in how progressive virtue-signaling is used to conceal business vices. The Editorial Board, WSJ, 17 Nov. 2022 The entire process has been an object lesson in the pitfalls of making policy by ballot question. The Editors, National Review, 8 Nov. 2023 Their history is an object lesson in the power and danger of reading itself. A.o. Scott, New York Times, 21 June 2023 Instead of a triumph, the J&J vaccine stands as kind of object lesson, as does Merck, which is said to have passed on Moderna’s vaccine and had its own efforts mothballed, as well as AstraZeneca, which licensed its vaccine from the University of Oxford but was beset by clinical trials snafus. Matthew Herper, STAT, 20 Dec. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'object lesson.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1831, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of object lesson was in 1831

Dictionary Entries Near object lesson

Cite this Entry

“Object lesson.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/object%20lesson. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

object lesson

noun
ˈäb-jikt-
: a real example of how some general idea or role works
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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