Definitions for reference
ˈrɛf ər əns, ˈrɛf rənsref·er·ence

Princeton's WordNet(3.54 / 29 votes)Rate this definition:

1. mention, referencenoun

   a remark that calls attention to something or someone

   "she made frequent mention of her promotion"; "there was no mention of it"; "the speaker made several references to his wife"

2. citation, cite, acknowledgment, credit, reference, mention, quotationnoun

   a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage

   "the student's essay failed to list several important citations"; "the acknowledgments are usually printed at the front of a book"; "the article includes mention of similar clinical cases"

3. reference point, point of reference, referencenoun

   an indicator that orients you generally

   "it is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved"

4. reference book, reference, reference work, book of factsnoun

   a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts

   "he contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic"

5. character, reference, character referencenoun

   a formal recommendation by a former employer to a potential future employer describing the person's qualifications and dependability

   "requests for character references are all too often answered evasively"

6. reference, denotation, extensionnoun

   the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression; the class of objects that an expression refers to

   "the extension of `satellite of Mars' is the set containing only Demos and Phobos"

7. reference, consultationnoun

   the act of referring or consulting

   "reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer"

8. reference, sourcenoun

   a publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to

   "he carried an armful of references back to his desk"; "he spent hours looking for the source of that quotation"

9. address, computer address, referencenoun

   (computer science) the code that identifies where a piece of information is stored

10. referenceverb

    the relation between a word or phrase and the object or idea it refers to

    "he argued that reference is a consequence of conditioned reflexes"

11. reference, citeverb

    refer to

    "he referenced his colleagues' work"

Wiktionary(4.20 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. referencenoun

   A relationship or relation (to something).

2. referencenoun

   A measurement one can compare to.

3. referencenoun

   Information about a person, provided by someone (a referee) with whom they are well acquainted

4. referencenoun

   A reference work.

5. referencenoun

   A relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object.

6. referencenoun

   A short written identification of a previously published work which is used as a source for a text.

7. referencenoun

   A previously published written work thus indicated; a source.

8. referencenoun

   An object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere, as opposed to containing the data itself.

9. referenceverb

   to refer to, to make reference to, to cite

   Reference the dictionary for word meanings.

10. referenceverb

    to mention

Webster Dictionary(3.17 / 6 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Referencenoun

   the act of referring, or the state of being referred; as, reference to a chart for guidance

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

2. Referencenoun

   that which refers to something; a specific direction of the attention; as, a reference in a text-book

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

3. Referencenoun

   relation; regard; respect

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

4. Referencenoun

   one who, or that which, is referred to

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

5. Referencenoun

   one of whom inquires can be made as to the integrity, capacity, and the like, of another

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

6. Referencenoun

   a work, or a passage in a work, to which one is referred

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

7. Referencenoun

   the act of submitting a matter in dispute to the judgment of one or more persons for decision

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

8. Referencenoun

   the process of sending any matter, for inquiry in a cause, to a master or other officer, in order that he may ascertain facts and report to the court

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

9. Referencenoun

   appeal

   Etymology: [See Refer.]

Freebase(4.54 / 22 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Reference

   Reference is a relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to refer to the second object. The second object – the one to which the first object refers – is called the referent of the first object. The term reference is used in many spheres of human knowledge, adopting shades of meaning particular to the contexts in which it is used. References can take on many forms, including: a thought, a sensory perception that is audible, visual, olfactory, or tactile, emotional state, relationship with other, spacetime coordinate, symbolic or alpha-numeric, a physical object or an energy projection; but, other concrete and abstract contexts exist as methods of defining references within the scope of the various fields that require an origin, point of departure, or an original form. This includes methods that intentionally hide the reference from some observers, as in cryptography. The following sections give specific usages of reference in different subjects.

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. reference

   A source for a specific form of data, facts, information, research or statistics.

   The reference for the media article is accurate, fair and just.

   Submitted by MaryC on March 20, 2020  

Matched Categories

1. • Action
   • Authorship
   • Code
   • Computer Science
   • Indicator
   • Meaning
   • Publication
   • Recommendation
   • Remark
   • Write

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'reference' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1341

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'reference' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1692

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'reference' in Nouns Frequency: #457

How to pronounce reference?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say reference in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of reference in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of reference in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of reference in a Sentence

1. Richard Grace:

   The PBoC set the daily reference rate stronger than expected yesterday, implying they are not concerned and have no intention of entering into a 'currency war'.

2. Albert Einstein:

   All our thoughts and concepts are called up by sense-experiences and have a meaning only in reference to these sense-experiences. On the other hand, however, they are products of the spontaneous activity of our minds they are thus in no wise logical consequences of the contents of these sense-experiences. If, therefore, we wish to grasp the essence of a complex of abstract notions we must for the one part investigate the mutual relationships between the concepts and the assertions made about them for the other, we must investigate how they are related to the experiences.

3. Emeasoba George:

   No human is a role model in actual sense or rather logically. These are my reasons. A model is a perfect or ­peculiar representative of a system, an organ or a product. Whereas, a role model itself, is a distinctive model from models. Now, that signifies, a role model should be perfect and peculiar from the crowd or its counterparts. But unfortunately, the reverse is always the case with the so called role models right here or out there. Besides that, every so called role model right here or out there looks up to someone else as his or her own role model too. And that shouldn't be so. Anyway, all I'm saying in essence is this, the so called role models don't deserve to be called role models. Moreover, that infers you've got to be and remain your own model. I mean, always be your own self and stop copying or imitating someone else no matter what happens. Lest you forget, every human is a unique creation i.e. you are God's masterpiece scripture reference (Psalms 139 : 14). Nevertheless, I guess that's a reasonable reason why you should always long to be and remain your own self and not at all any other person or celebrity right here or out there.

4. Jessica Todd Harper:

   One is to convey that stage in life when you're anchored to the home with young children, it also references how the home is the first stage in which children learn how to live in every situation. In my particular pictures, many of them have a stage-like quality. There's reference to tableau vivant of the past, these constructed images.

5. Peter Stano:

   The publications of the EEASare categorically independent. We have never bowed to any alleged external political pressure. This includes also our latest snapshot overview on disinfo trends published last Friday, the public EEAS special reportmakes clear reference to the continued use of conspiracy narratives and disinformation from government and State-backed sources, including Russia and China. This is a good indicator for the fact thatthe EU did not back down to any outside pressure.

Popularity rank by frequency of use