Noun

reference (plural references)

1. (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.
2. a measurement one can compare to
3. information about a person, provided by someone (a referee) with whom they are well acquainted
4. (academic writing) A previously published written work within academic publishing, used as a source for theory or claims referred to which are used in the text.
5. (programming) An object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere, as opposed to containing the data itself.

Derived terms

• self-reference
• reference work
• reference manual
• reference book
• frame of reference
• point of reference

Related terms

• referee
• referent
• referential

A reference, or a references point, is the intensional use of one thing, a point of reference or reference state, to indicate something else. When reference is intended, what the reference points to is called the referent.

Some general examples are:

• the name Jane Doe used to identify a particular woman;
• a traffic sign warning of an upcoming turn-off;
• a wedding ring indicating a certain kind of relationship; and
• samples of various musical works being incorporated into a new one.

References are indicated by sounds (like onomatopoeia), pictures (like roadsigns), text (like bibliographies), indexes (by number) and objects (a wedding ring); but endless concrete and abstract methods can be used intentionally. This includes methods that intentionally hide the reference from some observers, as in cryptography.

The following sections give specific usages of reference in different subjects.