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# refer

«refer» in Mova's school dictionary: **to talk or write about them** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (refer, refers, referred, referring)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To refer to someone or something is to talk or write about them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#m1)

2) To refer to a book, map or list is to look at it for information. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#m2)

3) To refer someone to another person or place is to send them there for help. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#m3)

4) If a word refers to something, it means or names that thing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In school, teachers say «refer to page 10» or «refer to the table». In maths, «this refers to the number of apples» explains what a letter or number stands for. In everyday life, a doctor refers a patient to a specialist. Phrases: refer to, refer back to, referred to as, refer someone to.

### examples

- Please refer to the map on page 12. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#x1)
- When I say «the twins», I'm referring to Sam and Alex. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#x2)
- The doctor referred her to a hospital specialist. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#x3)
- In the sum, «n» refers to the number of sweets. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#x4)
- The Moon is sometimes referred to as Earth's satellite. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#x5)
- Refer back to your notes if you get stuck. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#x6)
- «It» in the second sentence refers to the dog. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#x7)
- "What men are these you refer to?" said Deirdre. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/#x8)

### note

Double the r: referred, referring. Nouns: «reference» and «referral». It is almost always followed by «to». In a word problem, asking what a pronoun or letter refers to helps you know which number goes where.

### In the corpora

- [Don't ever refer to it again, please.»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood/32/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «refer» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refer/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.