ref·er·ent

(rĕf′ər-ənt, rĭ-fûr′ənt)

A person or thing to which a linguistic expression refers.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

referent

(ˈrɛfərənt)

the object or idea to which a word or phrase refers. Compare sense¹²

[C19: from Latin referens, from referre to refer]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ref•er•ent

(ˈrɛf ər ənt, ˈrɛf rənt)

n.

the object or event to which a term or symbol refers.

[1835–45; < Latin referent- (s. of referēns), present participle of referre. See refer, -ent]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	referent - something referred to; the object of a reference meaning, signification, import, significance - the message that is intended or expressed or signified; "what is the meaning of this sentence"; "the significance of a red traffic light"; "the signification of Chinese characters"; "the import of his announcement was ambiguous" antecedent - the referent of an anaphor; a phrase or clause that is referred to by an anaphoric pronoun denotatum - an actual object referred to by a linguistic expression designatum - something (whether existing or not) that is referred to by a linguistic expression
	2.	referent - the first term in a proposition; the term to which other terms relate term - one of the substantive phrases in a logical proposition; "the major term of a syllogism must occur twice"
	3.	referent - something that refers; a term that refers to another term term - a word or expression used for some particular thing; "he learned many medical terms"
Adj.	1.	referent - having reference; "judgments referent to the indictment" denotative, denotive - having the power of explicitly denoting or designating or naming

Translations

référent

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

For mortality, the hazard ratios were 1.00 (referent) in the first quarter (least active) and 0.48, 0.34, and 0.27 in the second, third, and fourth quarters, respectively.

More Physical Activity at Any Intensity May Reduce Mortality; Higher levels of total physical activity, less time spent sedentary linked to lower mortality risk

In the case of metonymical units, meaning construction relates to the process of inferring the referent of the metonymical constituent.

Metonymy and meaning construction in Persian nominal compounds: A close-up on one-part metonymical combinations

Le ministre des Affaires religieuses et des Wakfs, Mohamed Aissa, a fait part, jeudi dernier, devant la commission de l'education, de l'enseignement superieur et des affaires religieuses de l'APN, du projet de [beaucoup moins que]mosquee[beaucoup plus grand que] virtuelle permettant le dialogue entre les imams et les citoyens sur les reseaux sociaux dans la cadre de la preservation du referent religieux national.

Preservation du referent religieux national: bientot une [beaucoup moins que]mosquee[beaucoup plus grand que] virtuelle

Analysis was performed between toner-handling and referent, toner-exposed and never toner-handling, age, height, BMI: Mann-Whitney U test, smoking status: [Chi.sup.2] test.

THE RESPIRATORY EFFECTS OF TONER EXPOSURE ACCORDING TO LONG-TERM OCCUPATIONAL TONER HANDLING HISTORY: A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS, 2004-2013

In social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954) it is suggested that for accurate self-assessment, an individual uses information about his or her own state compared to that of another person - that is, a referent (Kulik & Ambrose, 1992).

EFFECTS OF REFERENTS' GENDER AND HIERARCHICAL LEVEL ON EMPLOYEES' SATISFACTION WITH PAY

The "referent object" within Securitization is that which is being protected, that which is under "existential threat" and needs to be protected by the securitization move.

Securitizing "The Other": A case study on Israeli and Palestinian institutional discourses

The referent of it in sentence 1 is the backpack; the referent of it in sentence 2 is the water bottle.

The First Winograd Schema Challenge at IJCAI-16

This is because he believes that only if the latter property is the referent of "better than" validity and completeness will be respected.

Non-naturalism and reference

Age was used concurrently as both a continuous variable and categorized in three levels as 12-20 years, 21-50 years, and [greater than or equal to] 50 years (referent).

Association of perfluoroalkyl substances, bone mineral density, and osteoporosis in the U.S. population in NHANES 2009-2010

Adjustment or representativeness of each and every element in relation to a specific referent implies that no element is surplus to, or short of, what is required.

Guidelines based on validity criteria for the development of multiple choice items/Directrices para el desarrollo de items de eleccion multiple basadas en validez

'Every morning I eat one egg.' In the presentative marker stage, 'one' introduces a new and major participant into discourse (it can be said that its purpose is to indicate discourse persistence of a referent).

On the article-like use of the indefinite determiners jedan and neki in Croatian and other Slavic languages/0 upotrebi i funkciji neodredenih determinatora jedan i neki kao clanova u hrvatskom i drugim slavenskim jezicima (Izvorni znanstveni radovi)

Martin and colleagues found evidence of self and social referent athletic identity in athletes with disabilities.

Athletic identity mediates between exercise motivation and beneficial outcomes