ENGLISH
REFERENCE

referred

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ɹəˈfɝd// UK //ɹɪfˈɜːd// re·ferred

v. to mention something or send someone to a person or place for help. You use this when you talk about where you got your information or who you should talk to next.

v. to mention or allude to something; to direct a person to a source of information or a specialist for assistance. The past tense and past participle form of 'refer'.


SIMPLE

She referred to her notes during the presentation.

CONTEXTUAL

The family doctor referred the patient to a specialist for further testing on his knee.

COMPLEX

In his final report, the investigator referred to several classified documents that had previously been withheld from the public eye to support his controversial conclusions.

Synonyms
Usage

The verb is transitive when directing a person ('referred him to') and intransitive when mentioning something ('referred to').

Pitfall

he referred the problemhe referred to the problemWhen meaning 'to mention', the verb must be followed by the preposition 'to'.

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