reference
Syllables: ref·er·enceUK/ˈɹɛf.(ə.)ɹəns/
More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations
obsolete/ˈɹɛf.ə.ɹɛns/
reference noun: a relationship or relation (to something).
Noun
reference (countable and uncountable, plural references)
- A relationship or relation (to something).
- A man is beloued of a man, in that he is a man, but all theſe are farre more eminent and great, when they ſhal proceed from a ſanctified ſpirit, that hath a true touch of Religion, and a reference to God.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Charity, compoſed of all three kindes, Pleaſant, Profitable, Honeſt”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […]...
- A measurement one can compare (some other measurement) to.
- Information about a person, provided by someone (a referee) with whom they are well acquainted.
- Changes will befall, and friends may part, / But distance only cannot change the heart / And were I call’d to prove th’ assertion true, / One proof should serve—a reference to you.a. 1800, William Cowper, “An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq.”, in The Task, Tirocinium, and Other Poems, page 180
- A person who provides this information; a referee.
- A reference work.
- reference grammar
- Reference Dictionary of Linguistics
- The act of referring: a submitting for information or decision.
- A relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object.
- A short written identification of a previously published work which is used as a source for a text.
- A previously published written work thus indicated; a source.
- An object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere, as opposed to containing the data itself.
- A special sequence used to represent complex characters in markup languages, such as ™ for the ™ symbol.
- Appeal.
- Y’are falne into a Princely hand, feare nothing, / Make your full reference freely to my Lord, / Who is ſo full of Grace, that it flowes ouer / On all that neede.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
Verb
reference (third-person singular simple present references, present participle referencing, simple past and past participle referenced)
- To provide a list of references for (a text).
- You must thoroughly reference your paper before submitting it.
- To cite, to use as a reference.
- Reference the dictionary for word meanings.
- The penchant for synthesizing the work of others that pervades British scholarship has been described by one of my cynical American colleagues as “a giant bibliography that is always eating its own tail.” By this he means that cliques of like-minded writers tend to reference each other’s work...1990, Thomas L. Bell, “Political Economy's Response to Positivism”, in Geographical Review, volume 80, number 3, American Geographical Society, →JSTOR, page 314
- To mention, to refer to.
- In his speech, the candidate obliquely referenced the past failures of his opponent.
- Humanities institutions specifically reference the work setting for illustrative applications of the unique and significant contributions of the Humanities.1988, Integrating the Humanities into Associate Degree Occupational Programs, American Association of Community Colleges, →ISBN, page 25
- To contain the value that is a memory address of some value stored in memory.
- The given pointer will reference the actual generated data.
reference meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
reference in Hindi
- academic writing: identification of a source
- संदर्भ sandarbh, उल्लेख ullekh
- measurement one can compare to
- संदर्भ sandarbh
- information about a person
- संदर्भ sandarbh
- academic writing: source
- संदर्भ sandarbh, उल्लेख ullekh
reference in Tamil
- reference, mention
- பிரஸ்தாபம் pirastāpam
reference in Marathi
- संदर्भ
reference in Urdu
- reference, citing
- حوالہ havāla
- reference, relation
- لحاظ lihāz
More languagesFewer languages
- reference in Bengali
- উল্লেখ, প্রসঙ্গ, সম্পর্কস্থাপন, উদ্ঘাত
- reference in Telugu
- రిఫరెన్స్
- reference in Malayalam
- അവലംബം, അവലംബിക്കുക
- reference in Kannada
- ಗುರುತಿಸುವುದು, ಎತ್ತುಗೆ, ಪತ್ತುಗೆ, ತತ್ತು
- reference in Punjabi
- ਹਵਾਲਾ havālā
- reference in Gujarati
- ઉલ્લેખ ullekh
- reference in Odia
- କଥା kathā
- reference in Sanskrit
- उल्लेख ullekha, अधिकार adhikāra
- reference in Nepali
- संदर्भ sandarbha
- reference in Tagalog
- sanggunian, talasanggunian
- reference in Arabic
- مَرْجِع marjiʕ
- reference in Malay
- rujukan, acuan
- reference in Indonesian
- rujukan, acuan, referensi
- reference in Persian
- ارجاعال, اشاره, مبنا, مرجع
- reference in Vietnamese
- tham chiếu
Examples of reference in a sentence
- Depositing it and being able to reference it centuries later is not common human experience.1994 September, Barry Chamish, quoting Louis Rossetto, “The End of the Book”, in The Atlantic:
- On the Florence Harding page, for instance, a researcher will be able to reference a book by Waarren Harding’s alleged mistress, Nan Britton, who claimed that she bore his daughter.1998 January 26, Donnie Radcliffe, “New Library Will Chronicle First Ladies”, in The Washington Post, page C1+:
- And I would simply reference those of you who are out there working.1991 January 19, Bobby Ray Inman, “A Nominee’s Withdrawal: Transcript of the Statement by Inman on His Decision to Withdraw”, in The New...
Forms of reference
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | references |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | references |
| present participle | referencing |
| past participle | referenced |
| past | referenced |
Origin of reference
From Middle French référence, from Medieval Latin referentia, nominative neuter plural of referēns, present participle of referō (“return, reply”, literally “carry back”). Morphologically refer + -ence.
Words formed from reference
- autoreference
- backreference
- back-reference
- book of reference
- call by reference
- call-by-reference
- category reference
- character reference
- circular reference
- coreference
- credit reference
- dereference
- forward reference
- frame of reference
- georeference
- grid reference
- idea of reference
- inertial frame of reference
- inertial reference
- inertial reference system
- inertial reference unit
- in reference to
- interreference
- letter of reference
- metareference
- misreference
- multireference
- noncoreferential
- nonreference
- olfactory reference syndrome
- overreference
- pass-by-reference
- pass by reference
- phantom reference
- phyloreference
- point of reference
- pseudoreference
- referenceable
- reference angle
- reference book
- reference counting
- reference data
- reference electrode
- reference frame
- reference implementation
- referenceless
- reference letter
- reference library
- reference list
- reference manual
- reference mark
- referenceness
- reference point
- reference queue
- reference star
- reference time
- reference type
- reference variable
- reference work
- rvalue reference
Phrases with reference
- soft reference
- weak reference
- reference books
- reference lists
- reference marks
- reference stars
- reference times
- reference types
- reference works
- reference angles
- reference frames
- reference points
17 more phrasesFewer phrases
- strong reference
- reference letters
- reference manuals
- books of reference
- ideas of reference
- terms of reference
- frames of reference
- points of reference
- reference libraries
- reference variables
- letters of reference
- reference electrodes
- space fixed reference
- inertial reference units
- reference implementations
- inertial reference systems
- inertial frames of reference
Words that rhyme with reference
Questions about reference
- What does reference mean?
- Reference means a relationship or relation (to something).
- What is reference in Hindi?
- Reference in Hindi is संदर्भ (sandarbh), उल्लेख (ullekh), उल्लेख करना (ullekh karnā). See Reference meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use reference in a sentence?
- Depositing it and being able to reference it centuries later is not common human experience.
- What part of speech is reference?
- Reference can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce reference?
- Reference is pronounced /ˈɹɛf.(ə.)ɹəns/ (UK).
- What is the plural of reference?
- The plural of reference is references.
Words near reference in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: reference (page history and authors); பிரஸ்தாபம் (Tamil) (page history and authors); reference (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); حوالہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); reference (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); reference (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); reference (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); reference (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਹਵਾਲਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ઉલ્લેખ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); କଥା (Odia) (page history and authors); अधिकार (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); संदर्भ (Nepali) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-reference.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-reference.wav.
Cite this entry: “reference.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reference. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.