refer

English

Etymology

From Middle English referren, from Old French referer, from Latin referre.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) enPR: rī-fû, IPA(key): /ɹɪˈfɜː/
  • (US) enPR: rī-fûr, IPA(key): /ɹɪˈfɝ/
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Verb

refer (third-person singular simple present refers, present participle referring, simple past and past participle referred)

  1. (transitive) To direct the attention of.
    The shop assistant referred me to the help desk on ground floor.
  2. (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
  3. (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.
  4. (intransitive, construed with to) To allude to, make a reference or allusion to.
    To explain the problem, the teacher referred to an example in another textbook.
  5. (Can we add an example for this sense?) (grammar) to be referential to another element in a sentence
  6. (computing) To address a specific location in computer memory.

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • refer to
  • refer someone to

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

refer

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of referō
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