Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb refer
7 senses of refer
Sense 1
mention, advert, bring up, cite, name, refer -- (make reference to; "His name was mentioned in connection with the invention")
=> think of, have in mind, mean -- (intend to refer to; "I'm thinking of good food when I talk about France"; "Yes, I meant you when I complained about people who gossip!")
Sense 2
refer, pertain, relate, concern, come to, bear on, touch, touch on, have-to doe with -- (be relevant to; "There were lots of questions referring to her talk"; "My remark pertained to your earlier comments")
Sense 3
refer -- (think of, regard, or classify under a subsuming principle or with a general group or in relation to another; "This plant can be referred to a known species")
=> classify, class, sort, assort, sort out, separate -- (arrange or order by classes or categories; "How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?")
Sense 4
refer -- (send or direct for treatment, information, or a decision; "refer a patient to a specialist"; "refer a bill to a committee")
=> send, direct -- (cause to go somewhere; "The explosion sent the car flying in the air"; "She sent her children to camp"; "He directed all his energies into his dissertation")
Sense 5
consult, refer, look up -- (seek information from; "You should consult the dictionary"; "refer to your notes")
=> research -- (attempt to find out in a systematically and scientific manner; "The student researched the history of that word")
Sense 6
denote, refer -- (have as a meaning; "`multi-' denotes `many' ")
=> mean, intend, signify, stand for -- (denote or connote; "`maison' means `house' in French"; "An example sentence would show what this word means")
Sense 7
refer -- (use a name to designate; "Christians refer to the mother of Jesus as the Virgin Mary")
=> name, call -- (assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to; "They named their son David"; "The new school was named after the famous Civil Rights leader")
