referee
UK/ˌɹɛf.əˈɹiː//ˌɹɛf.əˈɹi/
referee noun: an umpire or judge; an official who makes sure the rules are followed during a game.

Noun
referee (plural referees)
- An umpire or judge; an official who makes sure the rules are followed during a game.
- The referee kicked Jim out of the game for fighting.
- A person who settles a dispute.
- A person who writes a letter of reference or provides a reference by phone call for someone. (In the UK such a person is sometimes, and in the US the person is typically, referred to as a reference.)
- Your application, along with letters from three referees, should be received by January 31.
- An expert who judges the manuscript of an article or book to decide if it should be published.
Verb
referee (third-person singular simple present referees, present participle refereeing, simple past and past participle refereed)
- To act as a referee.
- He has to referee three hockey games this weekend.
- She has to finish refereeing an article for Nature.
referee meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
referee in Hindi
- रेफरी, रेफ़री, रैफरी
referee in Tamil
- நடுவர், நற்சான்றளிப்பவர்
referee in Marathi
- रेफरी
referee in Urdu
- فیصل
More languagesFewer languages
- referee in Bengali
- রেফারি, বিচারক
- referee in Telugu
- రిఫరీ, రెఫరీ, రిఫరీ చేయడం
- referee in Malayalam
- കായികമത്സരം നിയന്ത്രിക്കുന്നയാൾ, തർക്കം പരിഹരിക്കുന്നയാൾ, മദ്ധ്യസ്ഥൻ
- referee in Kannada
- ತೀರ್ಪುಗಾರ, ನಿರ್ಣಯಕಾರ, ರೆಫರೀ, ನಿರ್ಣಾಯಕ
- referee in Punjabi
- ਰੈਫਰੀ, ਰੈਫ਼ਰੀ
- referee in Gujarati
- રેફરી, રેફેરી, રેફ્રી
- referee in Odia
- ରେଫରୀ, ରେଫରି, ରେଫ୍ରି
- referee in Nepali
- रेफ्री, रेफरी, रेफरी गर्ने
- referee in Arabic
- حَكَم ḥakam
- referee in Malay
- pengadil, wasit
- referee in Thai
- ผู้ตัดสิน pûu-dtàt-sǐn
- referee in Vietnamese
- trọng tài
Examples of referee in a sentence
- The opposing team's forward hooked me, but the referee didn't see it, so no penalty.
- The referee had to spot the pink on the blue spot.
- The referee stopped play because of an obstruction by the defender.
Forms of referee
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | referees |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | referees |
| present participle | refereeing |
| past participle | refereed |
| past | refereed |
Origin of referee
From Middle English [Term?], from past participle of Old French referer (“to relate, to refer”), from Latin referre (“to carry back, to report, to notify”); as if refer + -ee, that is, the person to whom something is referred for consideration.
Words formed from referee
Phrases with referee
Words that rhyme with referee
Questions about referee
- What does referee mean?
- Referee means an umpire or judge; an official who makes sure the rules are followed during a game.
- What is referee in Hindi?
- Referee in Hindi is रेफरी, रेफ़री, रैफरी. See Referee meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is referee?
- Referee can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce referee?
- Referee is pronounced /ˌɹɛf.əˈɹiː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of referee?
- The plural of referee is referees.
Words near referee in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: referee (page history and authors); referee (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); referee (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); referee (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); referee (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); referee (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); referee (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); referee (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); referee (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); referee (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); referee (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); referee (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); referee (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-referee.ogg.
Cite this entry: “referee.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/referee. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
