Word.ws English Dictionary

Harvard format

Harvard format noun: the author-date method of parenthetical referencing, one of several standard formats for citing information from any source bibliographically.

Noun

Harvard format (uncountable)

  1. The author-date method of parenthetical referencing, one of several standard formats for citing information from any source bibliographically.

Origin of Harvard format

So named because Harvard University was a place where its use was common, at a time when today's generic names for referencing systems (author-date and author-number) hadn't yet acquired any degree of establishment.

Questions about Harvard format

What does Harvard format mean?
Harvard format means the author-date method of parenthetical referencing, one of several standard formats for citing information from any source bibliographically.
What part of speech is Harvard format?
Harvard format is a noun.

Words near Harvard format in the dictionary

  1. Harvard
  2. Harvard architecture
  3. Harvard architectures
  4. Harvard comma
  5. Harvard commas
  6. Harvard format
  7. Harvard machine
  8. Harvard machines
  9. Harvardian
  10. Harvardiana
  11. Harvardians

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Harvard format (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: “Harvard format.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/harvard_format. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.