the object or idea to which a word or phrase refers
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ref•er•ent /ˈrɛfərənt, ˈrɛfrənt/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- the object or event to which a word, term, or symbol points or refers.
ref•er•ent
(ref′ər ənt),USA pronunciation n.
- the object or event to which a term or symbol refers.
- Philosophy[Logic.]the first term in a proposition to which succeeding terms relate.
- Latin referent- (stem of referēns), present participle of referre. See refer, -ent
- 1835–45
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'referent' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
EER
- an
- article
- ary
- concrete
- dah
- demonstrative
- denotation
- descriptive
- direct object
- dit
- epicene
- gender
- grammatical gender
- indefinite pronoun
- intension
- interrogative
- natural gender
- number
- object
- onomatopoeia
- passive noun
- plural
- predicate noun
- referential
- retronym
- singular
- vocative
- which