Definition of Reference

1. Noun. A remark that calls attention to something or someone. "The speaker made several references to his wife"

Exact synonyms: Mention
Generic synonyms: Comment, Input, Remark
Specialized synonyms: Allusion, Retrospection, Name-dropping
Derivative terms: Mention, Mention, Refer

2. Verb. Refer to. "Did he Reference his major works over a short period of time?"; "He referenced his colleagues' work"
Exact synonyms: Cite
Category relationships: Authorship, Composition, Penning, Writing
Generic synonyms: Compose, Indite, Pen, Write
Derivative terms: Citation, Citation, Citation

3. Noun. A short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage. "The article includes mention of similar clinical cases"
Exact synonyms: Acknowledgment, Citation, Cite, Credit, Mention, Quotation
Generic synonyms: Annotation, Notation, Note
Specialized synonyms: Photo Credit, Cross-index, Cross-reference
Derivative terms: Acknowledge, Cite, Cite, Cite, Cite, Credit, Mention

4. Noun. An indicator that orients you generally. "It is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved"

5. Noun. A book to which you can refer for authoritative facts. "He contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic"

6. Noun. 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"
Exact synonyms: Character, Character Reference
Generic synonyms: Good Word, Recommendation, Testimonial
Derivative terms: Characterise

7. Noun. 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"
Exact synonyms: Denotation, Extension
Generic synonyms: Meaning, Substance
Derivative terms: Denote, Extensional, Refer, Refer, Referent

8. Noun. The act of referring or consulting. "Reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer"
Exact synonyms: Consultation
Generic synonyms: Action
Derivative terms: Consult, Refer

9. Noun. A publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to. "He spent hours looking for the source of that quotation"
Exact synonyms: Source
Generic synonyms: Publication
Derivative terms: Refer, Source

10. Noun. (computer science) the code that identifies where a piece of information is stored.
Exact synonyms: Address, Computer Address
Category relationships: Computer Science, Computing
Generic synonyms: Code, Computer Code
Specialized synonyms: Argument, Parameter, Uniform Resource Locator, Universal Resource Locator, Url
Derivative terms: Address

11. Noun. 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"
Generic synonyms: Meaning, Substance
Derivative terms: Refer, Refer, Referential

Definition of Reference

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

Definition of Reference

1. Noun. A relationship or relation ((term to) something). ¹

2. Noun. A measurement one can compare to. ¹

3. Noun. Information about a person, provided by someone (a referee) with whom they are well acquainted ¹

4. Noun. A reference work. ¹

5. Noun. (semantics) A relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. ¹

6. Noun. (context: academic writing) A short written identification of a previously published work which is used as a source for a text. ¹

7. Noun. (context: academic writing) A previously published written work thus indicated; a source. ¹

8. Noun. (programming) An object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere, as opposed to containing the data itself. ¹

9. Verb. to refer to, to make reference to, to cite ¹

10. Verb. to mention ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Reference

1. [v -ENCED, -ENCING, -ENCES]

Medical Definition of Reference

1. The act of referring or consulting, something that refers to something else. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Reference

refelts
refence
refenced
refences
refencing
refer
referable
referable(p)
refered
referee
refereed
refereeing
referees
referencable
reference
reference book
reference books
reference data
reference electrode
reference frame
reference grid
reference implementation
reference list
reference manual
reference method
reference point
reference points
reference standards
reference system

Literary usage of Reference

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Publishers Weekly by Publishers' Board of Trade (U.S.), Book Trade Association of Philadelphia, American Book Trade Union, Am. Book Trade Association, R.R. Bowker Company (1885)
"This Reference INDEX is best and most cheaply applied in the original printing and ... Booksellers in ordering any reference books should be sure always to ..."

2. A Treatise on the Power and Duty of an Arbitrator, and the Law of by Francis Russell (1878)
"On a reference of a cause and all matters in difference, if there be an express clause giving the arbitrator power over costs, and there appear nothing in ..."

3. A Treatise on Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental by David Hume, Thomas Hill Green, Thomas Hodge Grose (1882)
"If then it is for consciousness that ideas are presented together by nature, they already carry with them that reference to a substratum which is supposed ..."

4. Annual Report by Massachusetts Harbor and Land Commission (1897)
"hereinafter called reference line number two ; and said points are fixed as follows : Point A is distant northerly nineteen hundred and eighty-one (1981) ..."

5. Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein (1921)
"Let us consider a space-tune domain in which no gravitational field exists relative to a reference-body K whose state of motion has been suitably chosen. ..."

6. Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein (1920)
"Let us consider a space-time domain in which no gravitational field exists relative to a reference-body K whose state of motion has been suitably chosen. ..."

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