Meaning of reference
Definition of reference
(noun)
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"
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"
an indicator that orients you generally; "it is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved"
a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts; "he contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic"
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"
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"
the act of referring or consulting; "reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer"
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"
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"