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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

referential en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ɹɛfəˈɹɛnʃəl/

Etymology

Etymology tree English reference Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisder. Old French -ialder. Middle English -ial English -ial English referential From reference + -ial.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) Of a word or phrase applied to a particular person, place, or thing and not to any other.
  2. (not-comparable) Of or relating to a referent.
    • Thus, the referential location of “town” in an utterance “Went to town”, is simply to be conceived as that location which might also be referred to by “there”, “the place we visited last Thursday”, “your birthplace”, etc. 2011, James Dickins, Extended Axiomatic Linguistics, Walter de Gruyter, page 108:
  3. (not-comparable) Of or relating to reference or allusion.
    • In the first place, it must be pointed out that the bond with the past is inferential rather than referential. 1991, David Herzberger, “Social Realism and the Contingencies of History in the Contemporary Spanish Novel”, in Hispanic Review, volume 59, number 2, U of Pennsylvania P, →JSTOR, page 161:
    • Above all, the referential approach has proved durable and especially flexible. 1990, Gerald Mead, “The Representation of Fictional Character”, in Style, volume 24, number 3, Penn State UP, →JSTOR, page 441:
  4. (not-comparable) Serving as a reference.

Deriveds

referential integrity · self-referential · referentially · coreferentially · referential opacity · nonreferential · referentialist · autoreferential · irreferential · referential transparency · coreferential · metareferential · referentiality · coreferentiality · interreferential · multireferential · referentialism

Translations (2)

bg справочен (serving as a reference) · fi viitteellinen (serving as a reference)