referent
/ˈrɛf(ə)r(ə)nt
/noun Linguistics
The thing in the world that a word or phrase denotes or stands for: ‘the Morning Star’ and ‘the Evening Star’ have the same referent (the planet Venus)...
- Meaning postulates are not about the sense of words but about their referents.
- But in the following passage the syntax is such that the referent of the word lap is ambiguous.
- Furthermore, demonstrative nominal and demonstrative pronominal anaphors appeared to function quite differently in expressing differences in transition stages of discourse referents.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from Latin referent- 'bringing back', from the verb referre (see refer).