Meaning & Definition of Reference in English

1. 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. 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. An indicator that orients you generally

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

4. A book to which you can refer for authoritative facts

• "He contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic"

5. 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. 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. The act of referring or consulting

• "Reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer"

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

10. 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"

1. Refer to

• "He referenced his colleagues' work"