Link Centre Dictionary

source

UK/sɔːs/ US/sɔɹs/ common
noun (9) verb (2)

noun

1.

the place where something begins, where it springs into being

  • “the Italian beginning of the Renaissance”
  • “Jupiter was the origin of the radiation”
  • “Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River”
  • “communism”
Synonyms
2.

a person who supplies information

Synonyms
3.

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”
Synonyms
4.

a document (or organization) from which information is obtained

  • “the reporter had two sources for the story”
5.
6.

anything that provides inspiration for later work

Synonyms
7.

someone who originates or causes or initiates something

  • “he was the generator of several complaints”
Synonyms
8.

(technology) a process by which energy or a substance enters a system

  • “a heat source”
  • “a source of carbon dioxide”
Antonyms
9.

anything (a person or animal or plant or substance) in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies

  • “an infectious agent depends on a reservoir for its survival”
Synonyms

verb

1.

get (a product) from another country or business

  • “She sourced a supply of carpet”
  • “They are sourcing from smaller companies”
2.

specify the origin of

  • “The writer carefully sourced her report”

Origin

From Middle English sours, from Old French sorse (“rise, beginning, spring, source”), from sors, past participle of sordre, sourdre, from Latin surgō (“to rise”), which is composed of sub- (“up from below”) + regō (“lead, rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃réǵeti (“to straighten; right”), from the root *h₃reǵ-. Doublet of surge.

Phrases

  • airmass source region
  • broken source
  • closed source
  • data source
  • energy source
  • inner source
  • light source
  • open source

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.