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Dictionary definition for: Reference

1. (n) 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. (v) refer to; "he referenced his colleagues" work"

3. (n) 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

4. (n) an indicator that orients you generally; "it is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved"

5. (n) a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts; "he contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic"

6. (n) 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 to often answered evasively"

7. (n) 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"

8. (n) the act of referring or consulting; "reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer"

9. (n) 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"

10. (n) 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"

WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved.