noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The specific entity in the world that a word or phrase identifies or denotes: what it refers to.

   "For quotations using this term, see Citations:referent."

2. 2
   something that refers; a term that refers to another term wordnet
3. 3
   That which is referenced.
4. 4
   the first term in a proposition; the term to which other terms relate wordnet
5. 5
   something referred to; the object of a reference wordnet

Adjective

1. 1
   having reference wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

affective meaningbearingcoloringconnotationconsequencedenotation

Example

More examples

"For quotations using this term, see Citations:referent."

Etymology

From refer + -ent.

Related phrases

absent referent

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