What does "cross-reference" mean?

A reference or direction in one place in a book or other source of information to information at another place in the same work.

What is a synonym for "cross-reference"?

Common synonyms include: appeal to, cross-index, cross-refer, invoke, refer, refer to.

noun, verb

noun, verb ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A reference or direction in one place in a book or other source of information to information at another place in the same work.
"Hobson-Jobson (1903) contains 2467 dictionary entries, of which 31 are merely cross-references to other entries."
2
a reference at one place in a work to information at another place in the same work wordnet

Verb

1
To provide something with a cross-reference. transitive
"This index, which is cross-referenced, will enable references on any subject to be found easily."
2
To compare two or more sources of information. transitive

"Hobson-Jobson (1903) contains 2467 dictionary entries, of which 31 are merely cross-references to other entries."

From cross- + reference.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.