Refer vs. Reference

Refer vs. Reference — Is There a Difference?
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Difference Between Refer and Reference

Referverb

(transitive) To direct the attention of.

The shop assistant referred me to the help desk on ground floor.

Referencenoun

A relationship or relation (to something).

Referverb

(transitive) To submit to (another person or group) for consideration; to send or direct elsewhere.

He referred the matter to the principal.to refer a patient to a psychiatrist

Referencenoun

A measurement one can compare to.

Referverb

(transitive) To place in or under by a mental or rational process; to assign to, as a class, a cause, source, a motive, reason, or ground of explanation.

He referred the phenomena to electrical disturbances.

Referencenoun

Information about a person, provided by someone (a referee) with whom they are well acquainted.

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Referverb

To allude to, make a reference or allusion to.

To explain the problem, the teacher referred to an example in another textbook.

Referencenoun

A person who provides this information; a referee.

Referverb

(grammar) To be referential to another element in a sentence.

Referencenoun

A reference work.

Referverb

(computing) To address a specific location in computer memory.

Referencenoun

(semantics) A relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object.

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Referverb

(education) Required to resit an examination.

Smith's marks in the finals were unsatisfactory and he was referred.

Referencenoun

(academic writing) A short written identification of a previously published work which is used as a source for a text.

Referverb

make reference to;

His name was mentioned in connection with the invention

Referencenoun

(academic writing) A previously published written work thus indicated; a source.

Referverb

have to do with or be relevant to;

There were lots of questions referring to her talkMy remark pertained to your earlier comments

Referencenoun

(programming) An object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere, as opposed to containing the data itself.

Referverb

think of, regard, or classify under a subsuming principle or with a general group or in relation to another;

This plant can be referred to a known species

Referencenoun

A special sequence used to represent complex characters in markup languages, such as ™ for the ™ symbol.

Referverb

send or direct for treatment, information, or a decision;

refer a patient to a specialistrefer a bill to a committee

Referencenoun

(obsolete) Appeal.

Referverb

seek information from;

You should consult the dictionaryrefer to your notes

Referenceverb

To provide a list of references for (a text).

You must thoroughly reference your paper before submitting it.

Referverb

have as a meaning;

`multi-' denotes `many'

Referenceverb

To refer to, to use as a reference.

Reference the dictionary for word meanings.

Referenceverb

To mention, to cite.

In his speech, the candidate obliquely referenced the past failures of his opponent.

Referenceverb

(programming) To contain the value that is a memory address of some value stored in memory.

The given pointer will reference the actual generated data.

Referencenoun

a remark that calls attention to something or someone;

she made frequent mention of her promotionthere was no mention of itthe speaker made several references to his wife

Referencenoun

a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage;

the student's essay failed to list several important citationsthe acknowledgments are usually printed at the front of a bookthe article includes mention of similar clinical cases

Referencenoun

an indicator that orients you generally;

it is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved

Referencenoun

a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts;

he contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic

Referencenoun

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

Referencenoun

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

Referencenoun

the act of referring or consulting;

reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer

Referencenoun

a publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to;

he carried an armful of references back to his deskhe spent hours looking for the source of that quotation

Referencenoun

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

Referenceverb

refer to;

he referenced his colleagues' work