dereference
UK/dɪˈɹɛfɹəns/
dereference verb: to access the value or object located in a memory location addressed by a pointer or another value interpreted as such; to access a value being referenced by something else.
Verb
dereference (third-person singular simple present dereferences, present participle dereferencing, simple past and past participle dereferenced)
- To access the value or object located in a memory location addressed by a pointer or another value interpreted as such; to access a value being referenced by something else.
- Attempting to dereference a null pointer often results in a crash.
- To operate on the file or directory pointed to by a symbolic link, rather than on the link itself.
- With the find command, any symbolic links appearing after -follow will be dereferenced.
- To dissolve a symbolic link by replacing it with a copy of its target.
Noun
dereference (plural dereferences)
- The act by which something is dereferenced.
- Either each dereference must use a complicated DCAS protocol, or each pointer must include a version number that is managed on each modification and checked on each dereference, or storage management must be tightly coupled […]1999, Michael Barry Greenwald, Non-blocking synchronization and system design, page 77
Synonyms of dereference
Forms of dereference
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | dereferences |
| present participle | dereferencing |
| past participle | dereferenced |
| past | dereferenced |
| Noun | |
| plural | dereferences |
Origin of dereference
From de- + reference.
Words formed from dereference
Questions about dereference
- What does dereference mean?
- Dereference means to access the value or object located in a memory location addressed by a pointer or another value interpreted as such; to access a value being referenced by something else.
- What part of speech is dereference?
- Dereference can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce dereference?
- Dereference is pronounced /dɪˈɹɛfɹəns/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of dereference?
- The past tense of dereference is dereferenced.
Words near dereference in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dereference (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “dereference.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dereference. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.