Meaning of "reference" in the English dictionary

PRONUNCIATION OF REFERENCE

reference  [ˈrɛfərəns]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF REFERENCE

Reference is a verb and can also act as a noun and a preposition.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb reference in English.

The preposition is an invariable grammatical category, that has no meaning itself and which serves to link or relate terms.

WHAT DOES REFERENCE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

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.

Definition of reference in the English dictionary

The first definition of reference in the dictionary is the act or an instance of referring. Other definition of reference is something referred, esp proceedings submitted to a referee in law. Reference is also a direction of the attention to a passage elsewhere or to another book, document, etc.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO REFERENCE

PRESENT

Present

I reference

you reference

he/she/it references

we reference

you reference

they reference

Present continuous

I am referencing

you are referencing

he/she/it is referencing

we are referencing

you are referencing

they are referencing

Present perfect

I have referenced

you have referenced

he/she/it has referenced

we have referenced

you have referenced

they have referenced

Present perfect continuous

I have been referencing

you have been referencing

he/she/it has been referencing

we have been referencing

you have been referencing

they have been referencing

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I referenced

you referenced

he/she/it referenced

we referenced

you referenced

they referenced

Past continuous

I was referencing

you were referencing

he/she/it was referencing

we were referencing

you were referencing

they were referencing

Past perfect

I had referenced

you had referenced

he/she/it had referenced

we had referenced

you had referenced

they had referenced

Past perfect continuous

I had been referencing

you had been referencing

he/she/it had been referencing

we had been referencing

you had been referencing

they had been referencing

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will reference

you will reference

he/she/it will reference

we will reference

you will reference

they will reference

Future continuous

I will be referencing

you will be referencing

he/she/it will be referencing

we will be referencing

you will be referencing

they will be referencing

Future perfect

I will have referenced

you will have referenced

he/she/it will have referenced

we will have referenced

you will have referenced

they will have referenced

Future perfect continuous

I will have been referencing

you will have been referencing

he/she/it will have been referencing

we will have been referencing

you will have been referencing

they will have been referencing

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would reference

you would reference

he/she/it would reference

we would reference

you would reference

they would reference

Conditional continuous

I would be referencing

you would be referencing

he/she/it would be referencing

we would be referencing

you would be referencing

they would be referencing

Conditional perfect

I would have reference

you would have reference

he/she/it would have reference

we would have reference

you would have reference

they would have reference

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been referencing

you would have been referencing

he/she/it would have been referencing

we would have been referencing

you would have been referencing

they would have been referencing

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you reference
we let´s reference
you reference

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to reference

Past participle

referenced

Present Participle

referencing

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

SYNONYMS OF «REFERENCE»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «reference» and belong to the same grammatical category.

synonyms of reference

allusion · authority · bring up · certification · character reference · citation · cite · comment · committal · consignment · credentials · credit · deliverance · endorsement · footnote · invoke · mention · note · quotation · recommendation · remark · source · submission · testimonial · transfer

TRANSLATION OF REFERENCE

Find out the translation of reference to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of reference from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «reference» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 提到
• Translator English - Spanish: referencia
• English: reference
• Translator English - Hindi: संदर्भ
• Translator English - Arabic: مَرْجِع
• Translator English - Russian: ссылка
• Translator English - Portuguese: referência
• Translator English - Bengali: refereeeing
• Translator English - French: référence
• Translator English - Malay: Pengamatan
• Translator English - German: Bezugnahme
• Translator English - Japanese: 参考
• Translator English - Korean: 참조
• Translator English - Javanese: Ngeterake
• Translator English - Vietnamese: sự nhắc đến
• Translator English - Tamil: refereeeing
• Translator English - Marathi: रेफ्रीएइंग
• Translator English - Turkish: refereeeing
• Translator English - Italian: riferimento
• Translator English - Polish: odniesienie
• Translator English - Ukrainian: згадування
• Translator English - Romanian: referire
• Translator English - Greek: παραπομπή
• Translator English - Afrikaans: verwysing
• Translator English - Swedish: hänvisning
• Translator English - Norwegian: referanse

10 QUOTES WITH «REFERENCE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word reference.

1

Mahmoud Abbas

The core issue here is that the Israeli government refuses to commit to terms of reference for the negotiations that are based on international law and United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically continues to intensify building of settlements on the territory of the State of Palestine.

2

Zeresenay Alemseged

My family, in a way, gives me a reference as to who I am as an individual, and my work gives me a reference as to who I am as a Homo sapiens. I think that's a very perfect match, in my view.

3

Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi

I have strong interests in supporting sport, primarily football, and also in developing cultural relationships within national communities and their diasporas, with special reference to Ethiopia.

4

Francis Arinze

With reference to other religions, the Church sees a great difference between them and herself. The other religions are expressions of the human soul seeking God, with some beautiful spiritual insights, but also not without errors. Christianity is rather God seeking humanity.

5

Kenneth Joseph Arrow

In 1963 and later papers, I pointed out that the special market characteristics of medical care and medical insurance could be explained by reference to differences in information among the parties involved.

6

Madison Smartt Bell

Hemingway's minimalism is based on the psychological mechanics of repression. An echo of his approach can be detected in a favorite trope of 1980s minimalists: a pattern of reference to dire secrets and hidden wounds these authors didn't realize they were supposed to have imagined.

7

George Phillips Bond

Until very recently, the heavenly bodies have been investigated only with reference to their position and their laws of motion, and a quarter of a century ago astronomy was little more than celestial topography.

8

Gwendolyn Brooks

When you use the term minority or minorities in reference to people, you're telling them that they're less than somebody else.

9

Joseph Butler

The Epistles in the New Testament have all of them a particular reference to the condition and usages of the Christian world at the time they were written.

10

Julian Casablancas

I always reference 'Mad Max' when I think about what I want to wear. But it's a fine line between that and 'Edward Scissorhands'.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «REFERENCE»

Discover the use of reference in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to reference and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

Battery Reference Book

This book is unique in providing extensive data on specific battery types, manufacturers and suppliers, as well as covering the theory - an aspect of the book which makes an updated edition important for every professional's library.

Thomas Roy Crompton, 2000

Reference

This book introduces the most important problems of reference and considers the solutions that have been proposed to explain them.

Barbara Abbott, 2010

Broadcast Engineer's Reference Book

This global work will become your number one resource whether you are from an audio, video, communications or computing background.

Edwin Paul J. Tozer, 2004

Instrumentation Reference Book

This 4e of the Instrumentation Reference Book embraces the equipment and systems used to detect, track and store data related to physical, chemical, electrical, thermal and mechanical properties of materials, systems and operations.

Walt Boyes, 2009

Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic ...

"A uniquely valuable compendium of taxonomic and distributional data on the world's living and historically extinct mammalian species." -- Journal of Mammalogy "A valuable reference work and a vital tool, particularly for researchers.

Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder, 2005

jQuery Pocket Reference

Ideal for JavaScript developers at all skill levels, this book is jQuery's trusty companion: the definitive "read less, learn more" guide to the library. jQuery Pocket Reference explains everything you need to know about jQuery, completely ...

David Flanagan, 2010

Facilities Manager's Desk Reference

With a clear practitioner perspective the book covers both hard and soft facilities management issues and is presented in an easy to read, concise format.

Jane M. Wiggins, 2010

The Reference Book

The book concludes by drawing out some implications of the proposed semantic picture for the traditional categories of reference and singular thought.

John P. Hawthorne, David Manley, 2012

PHP Reference: Beginner to Intermediate PHP5

This book includes numerous additional tips, the basics of PHP, MySQL query examples, regular expressions syntax, and two indexes to help you find information faster: a common language index and a function index.

Mario Lurig, 2008

Automotive Lubricants Reference Book

The automotive lubricants arena has undergone significant changes since the first edition of this book was published in 1996.

Roger Haycock, Arthur J. Caines, Roger F. Haycock, 2004

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «REFERENCE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term reference is used in the context of the following news items.

Terms of reference released for NS orphanage inquiry

Tony Smith, a former resident of the home and a member of the group that designed the terms of reference, said releasing the report signifies the province is ... «CTV News, Jun 15»

Changes in terms of reference for IBRC Commission of Investigation

Murphy did not abuse Dáil privilege with O'Brien comments; Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said: “The wider you make the terms of reference ( IBRC inquiry may ... «Irish Times, Jun 15»

Bio-Reference Labs (BRLI) Stock Gains on Acquisition Despite …

Bio-Reference shareholders will receive 2.75 shares of Opko for every share of Bio-Reference they own as part of the all stock deal that is expected to be ... «TheStreet.com, Jun 15»

Opko to Buy Bio-Reference for $1.47 Billion for Gene Data

Opko Health Inc., a drugs and diagnostics company, agreed to buy Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc. for about $1.47 billion in stock, gaining access to genetic ... «Bloomberg, Jun 15»

Zardari misses assets reference hearing due to food poisoning

The reference is one of the six cases established by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Zardari for his alleged financial corruptions. On April 17, the ... «The Express Tribune, May 15»

Approving the application, the court has directed Zardari to appear …

The assets reference was initiated against Zardari and Benazir in 2001 during the tenure of former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf but its hearing was ... «DAWN.com, Apr 15»

Vizio takes on Samsung and LG's best with new Reference Series …

While Vizio has elbowed into the big leagues by proffering extremely affordable TVs with solid performance, this new Reference series indicates the company ... «Digital Trends, Apr 15»

Google, Intel vow to speed up delivery of Android updates

Intel's program, called Reference Design for Android, provides a blueprint for device makers to build tablets, smartphones and phablets with a consistent set of ... «Computerworld, Apr 15»

High schools keep Indian names, remove reference to Indians

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The West Hartford School Board has voted to eliminate reference to Indians at the two high schools, but will allow the schools ... «WTNH, Mar 15»

Bio-Reference Laboratories Reports 15 Percent Revenue Increase …

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Bio-Reference Laboratories today said that its fiscal first quarter revenues grew 15 percent year over year but missed the average ... «GenomeWeb, Mar 15»