referee

UK:*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˌrɛfəˈriː/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/ˌrɛfəˈri/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(ref′ə rē′)

Inflections of 'referee' (v): (⇒ conjugate)
referees
v 3rd person singular
refereeing
v pres p
refereed
v past
refereed
v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
ref•er•ee /ˌrɛfəˈri/USA pronunciation   n., pl. -ees, v., -eed, -ee•ing. 
n. [countable]
  1. a person to whom an issue or problem is sent for a decision or settlement;
    an arbitrator.
  2. Games, Sport(in certain games and sports) a judge having functions fixed by the rules of the game or sport;
    umpire.
  3. an authority who evaluates proposals for funding, scholarly papers for publication, etc.
  4. Lawa person selected by a court to take testimony and recommend a decision:The referee listened to the motorist's explanation and gave him a lower fine.

v. 
  1. to act as a referee for (a game, contest, proposal, etc.): [~ + object]to referee games.[no object]to referee fairly.
See -fer-.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
ref•er•ee  (ref′ə rē′),USA pronunciation n., v., -eed, -ee•ing. 
n. 
  1. one to whom something is referred, esp. for decision or settlement;
    arbitrator.
  2. Games, Sport(in certain games and sports) a judge having functions fixed by the rules of the game or sport;
    umpire.
  3. an authority who evaluates scientific, technical, or scholarly papers, grant proposals, or the like for the publication or funding institution to which they have been submitted.
  4. Lawa person selected by a court to take testimony in a case and return it to the court with recommendations as to the decision.

v.t. 
  1. to preside over as referee;
    act as referee in.

v.i. 
  1. to act as referee.
  • refer + -ee 1605–15
    • 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged arbiter. See judge. 
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
referee / ˌrɛfəˈriː/
  1. a person to whom reference is made, esp for an opinion, information, or a decision
  2. the umpire or judge in any of various sports, esp football and boxing, responsible for ensuring fair play according to the rules
  3. a person who is willing to testify to the character or capabilities of someone
  4. See Official Referee
 ( -ees, -eeing, -eed)
  1. to act as a referee (in); preside (over)
'referee' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Official Referee - appeal - arbiter - arbitration - assistant referee - blow - book - break - call - clinch - compositor - count - count out - decision - disinterested - face - face-off - foul - ground - illegal - judge - judgment call - jump ball - kriegspiel - linesman - no-side - officiate - red card - ref - ref. - reference - rule - sendoff - split decision - technical knockout - time-out - umpire - whistle - whistler - yellow card
Collocations: a [football, soccer, rugby, basketball] referee, a [lenient, good, poor, strict] referee, the fans [booed, cheered] the referee, more...

Forum discussions with the word(s) "referee" in the title:


Look up "referee" at Merriam-Webster
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