Used in a Sentence

referent

Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for referent.

Editorial note

Derrida spoke of the absurdity of deriving meaning from an infinitely recursive and self referent system of language.

Examples16
Definitions2
Parts of speech1

Quick take

That which is referenced.

Meaning at a glance

The clearest senses and uses of referent gathered in one view.

noun

That which is referenced.

noun

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

Definitions

Core meanings and parts of speech for referent.

noun

That which is referenced.

noun

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

Example sentences

1

Derrida spoke of the absurdity of deriving meaning from an infinitely recursive and self referent system of language.

2

What matters is whether Y is a cultural referent that's likely to be shared by the readers.

3

Taking a reference is a trivial way to create an alias, though obviously while the alias is alive you are restricted in what you can do to the referent.

4

Which is a great sentence, because semantically the pronoun referent is obligatorily female and singular.

5

Global variables aren't global to the extent their referent persists across system boundaries.

6

Hence, it may be that it's not so much that the node doesn't exist in the other graph, but that the referent doesn't exist.

7

This does not preclude shocking art, but can be achieved even with purely abstract forms without a representative referent, let alone a shocking one.

8

It is meaningless as a term, lacking any referent, but oh so useful as a shibboleth: anyone who believes in it can be killfiled on sight.

9

'grep' isn't a case of disemvowelment (there's an e!), it's just a weird mnemonic that's outlived its referent.

10

You use `mut` to define whether a stack-allocated value can be mutated, and also to define whether a reference can be used to mutate its referent.

11

Is expiration necessarily a date, or is it a predicate?) * Cardholder - referent might be another entity in your system * Is the card number encrypted?

12

The gender of the person might not change the gender of the noun that refers to it (I'd suppose the noun's gender is actually fixed.) But, possessive pronouns might not care about the gender of the noun in cases where a person is the referent and the person's gender is known.

Quote examples

1

And the referent for "this guy" comes after the description of the game...and the embedded primary trailer.

2

The semantic "limit" of the 3rd person plural pronoun is that there is an explicit or implicit, antecedent substantive referent.

3

Most current crises have a referent in "Yes Minister", including this one - when the PM denied the bugging of an MP's phone.

4

Even if we invent the term "real-computer" inside the simulation it's fully qualified referent is simulated/real-computer.

Frequently asked questions

Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.

How do you use referent in a sentence?

Derrida spoke of the absurdity of deriving meaning from an infinitely recursive and self referent system of language.

What does referent mean?

That which is referenced.

What part of speech is referent?

referent is commonly used as noun.