cross reference
noun
a reference from one part of a book, index, or the like, to related material, as a word or illustration, in another part.
Jump To:
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cross reference
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cross-reference
cross-referenceverb (used with or without object)to provide with cross references.
cross reference
1 Americannoun
cross-reference
2
American
[kraws-ref-er-uhns, -ref-ruhns, kros-]
/ ˈkrɔsˈrɛf ər əns, -ˈrɛf rəns, ˈkrɒs- /
verb (used with or without object)
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cross-references,
present (3rd person singular)
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cross-referenced,
past participle, past
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cross-referencing
present participle
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to provide with cross references.
The new encyclopedia is completely cross-referenced.
cross-reference
British
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cross-referencesimple
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cross-referencessimple
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have cross-referencedperfect
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has cross-referencedperfect
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am cross-referencingprogressive
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are cross-referencingprogressive
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is cross-referencingprogressive
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have been cross-referencingperfect progressive
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has been cross-referencingperfect progressive
Past
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cross-referencedsimple
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had cross-referencedperfect
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was cross-referencingprogressive
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were cross-referencingprogressive
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had been cross-referencingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cross reference1
First recorded in 1825–35
Origin of cross-reference2
First recorded in 1900–05
Explanation
When a book mentions something from a different part of the same book, that's a cross-reference. In a textbook, a cross-reference might look like this: "See page 123." Cross-reference, "a reference in a book to another part of it," was coined in the 19th century. It's a way to add more information without going into wordy detail, similar to using a footnote or endnote in academic writing. If you look up "Amelia Earhart" in an index at the back of a book, you might see cross-references such as "See also: Earhart, Amelia" and "See also: aviators."
Vocabulary lists containing cross-reference
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Boeing 737s have historically had only two angle-of-attack sensors, so if one gets bad data the plane’s flight computers haven’t had a way to cross reference a third reading to ensure accuracy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
The Mayo Clinic provides some symptoms of BPD, which you can cross reference with your experience of your mother-in-law.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026
"They are meant to cross reference to see if they are on a course, not on a course, or where they are," he said.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
JXN Water, the corporation Henifin formed to manage water infrastructure projects, will cross reference the Entergy customer records with city records to see what homes might be using water without a utility account.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 22, 2023
There's too much cross reference to all periods involved.
From Cubs of the Wolf by Raymond F. Jones
More than a decade ago, a local data nerd was able to obtain taxi commission data and cross-reference it with photos on celebrity gossip blogs to purportedly show that some celebrities didn’t tip their drivers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The cases don’t cross-reference one another, as often happens when the court decides two similar cases in the same term.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
With details of the batch, Roo's team were able to cross-reference with the bottle he was still taking drops from every day.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
You should also cross-reference the posted information with what local and state government officials, first responders, disaster relief agencies, known nonprofit organizations and trusted media outlets are saying on their official websites.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2025
I had one more name I needed to cross-reference with Bobbie Lyles.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
Happily, the show is not up to its cowl in DC cross-references and crossovers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
She cross-references the many striking photos taken during the late September publicity shoot commissioned by the project’s director of public relations, Merle Crowell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Since then, AFP has automated area calculations of the geographic files supplied by ISW and cross-references them with the size of Ukrainian regions.
From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026
Starting from the dawn of the modern encyclopedia, you could argue that the whole structure of empirical human knowledge is built out of the rivets and bolts of footnotes and cross-references.
From Slate ● Mar. 1, 2023
You fill out a survey, a computer analyzes your answers, then it cross-references with the other surveys.
From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
For the report, the UN agency cross-referenced data showing where the roughly 2.4 billion children on the planet live with the geographic distribution of the eight most common climate impacts.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
Once enough information was gathered, the team cross-referenced all of their intelligence, looking for inconsistencies and flags, and provided their findings to the Navajo County district attorney’s office, Clouse said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
You never cross-referenced her number on the school’s parent list with the one on the text.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2025
Officials said the casualty figures were based on open-source material, sometimes cross-referenced with classified data.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2024
He got a list of every high school and university in each river town, and cross-referenced everyone who had been on a swim team for the past twenty years or had registered for a triathlon.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Health obsessives often monitor workouts, step counts, sleep metrics, heart rates and nutrition data, cross-referencing the information with their calendars, meeting transcriptions, emails and clinical records.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
I studied the pages like scripture — cross-referencing crust ratios, comparing jam methods, building a menu as though I were prepping for an exam.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2025
They're cross-referencing those addresses with information from the electoral roll and other agencies to find the most likely locations, for someone who may be connected with the parents.
From BBC ● May 15, 2025
These powerful applications provide a virtual fire hose of real-time information, including location and address history, cross-referencing usernames, and fingerprinting a user based on writing style.
From Slate ● Feb. 5, 2025
I rearrange a few pill bottles, making sure one more time that everything is in the same chronological order as what I programmed into the app after cross-referencing his Donkey Kong-covered regimen.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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