1. A short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage
   "the student's essay failed to list several important references";
   - citation, cite [informal, rare], acknowledgment, credit, mention, quotation
    
2. A remark that calls attention to something or someone
   "the speaker made several references to his wife";
   - mention
    
3. The act of referring or consulting
   "reference to an encyclopaedia produced the answer";
   - consultation
    
4. A book to which you can refer for authoritative facts
   "he contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic"; "Students often consult books of facts for quick reference during research projects";
   - reference book, reference work, book of facts
    
5. A publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to
   "he carried an armful of references back to his desk";
   - source
    
6. 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";
   - character, character reference
    
7. The most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression; the class of objects that an expression refers to
   "the reference of 'satellite of Mars' is the set containing only Demos and Phobos";
   - denotation, extension
    
8. An indicator that orients you generally
   "it is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved";
   - reference point, point of reference
    
9. 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"
    
10. (computing) the code that identifies where a piece of information is stored
    "The technician needed to know the computer reference to locate the corrupted file";
    - address, computer address
     
11. [N. Amer] Someone who writes a reference letter for a job candidate
    "She asked her former professor to be a reference for her job application";
    - referee [Brit]

1. Make a citation to
   "he referenced his colleagues' work";
   - cite

Sounds like: reeler, rerence, ref

Derived forms: referencing, referenced, references

Type of: action, annotation, book, code, comment, compose, computer code, good word, indicator, indite [archaic], input, meaning, notation, note, pen, publication, recommendation, remark, substance, testimonial, write

Encyclopedia: Reference