Word.ws English Dictionary

referendary

referendary noun: one to whose decision a cause is referred; a referee.

Noun

referendary (plural referendaries)

  1. (obsolete) One to whose decision a cause is referred; a referee.
    • let him choose well his referendaries , for else he may be led by the nose1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Suitors”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
  2. (historical) An officer who delivered the royal answer to petitions.
    • In the writs of Merovingian kings , the king normally signed his name first , and his referendary followed1941, The Cambridge Historical Journal
    • referendaries were involved in the presentation of petitions to the king1992, P. S. Barnwell, Emperor, Prefects & Kings: The Roman West
  3. (obsolete) An officer of state charged with the duty of procuring and dispatching diplomas and decrees.

Forms of referendary

pluralreferendaries

Origin of referendary

From Latin referendarius, from Latin referendus (“to be referred”), gerundive of referre. Compare French référendaire. See refer.

Words formed from referendary

Questions about referendary

What does referendary mean?
Referendary means one to whose decision a cause is referred; a referee.
What part of speech is referendary?
Referendary is a noun.
What is the plural of referendary?
The plural of referendary is referendaries.

Words near referendary in the dictionary

  1. referenda
  2. referendal
  3. referendar
  4. referendaries
  5. referendars
  6. referendary
  7. referendaryship
  8. referendaryships
  9. referends
  10. referendum
  11. referendums

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: referendary (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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