Word info Synonyms Antonyms

refer

Speech parts

1. refer - Noun

2. refer - Verb

Meaning

To carry or send back.

Hence: To send or direct away; to send or direct elsewhere, as for treatment, aid, information, decision, etc.; to make over, or pass over, to another; as, to refer a student to an author; to refer a beggar to an officer; to refer a bill to a committee; a court refers a matter of fact to a commissioner for investigation, or refers a question of law to a superior tribunal.

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; as, he referred the phenomena to electrical disturbances.

To have recourse; to apply; to appeal; to betake one's self; as, to refer to a dictionary.

To have relation or reference; to relate; to point; as, the figure refers to a footnote.

To carry the mind or thought; to direct attention; as, the preacher referred to the late election.

To direct inquiry for information or a guarantee of any kind, as in respect to one's integrity, capacity, pecuniary ability, and the like; as, I referred to his employer for the truth of his story.

Source: Webster's dictionary

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Examples

Every success in anything we should refer to the Lord and with the Prophet say: 'Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory' (Ps. 113:9). Seraphim of Sarov

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. Albert Einstein

To think straight, it is advisable to expect all qualities and attributes, adjectives, and so on to refer to at least two sets of interactions in time. Gregory Bateson

There is a concept which corrupts and upsets all others. I refer not to Evil, whose limited realm is that of ethics; I refer to the infinite. Jorge Luis Borges

We must consider both the ultimate end and all clear sensory evidence, to which we refer our opinions; for otherwise everything will be full of uncertainty and confusion. Epicurus

It is cruel to refer to those things which cause sorrow. Latin Proverb

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