footnote

[foot-noht]

noun

1. an explanatory or documenting note or comment at the bottom of a page, referring to a specific part of the text on the page.

2. a minor or tangential comment or event added or subordinated to a main statement or more important event.

verb (used with object)

footnoted, footnoting 

1. to add a footnote or footnotes to (a text, statement, etc.); annotate.

   to footnote a dissertation.

footnote

/ ˈfʊtˌnəʊt /

noun

1. a note printed at the bottom of a page, to which attention is drawn by means of a reference mark in the body of the text

2. an additional comment, as to a main statement

verb

1. (tr) to supply (a page, book, etc) with footnotes

Word History and Origins

Origin of footnote¹

First recorded in 1835–45; foot + note

Example Sentences

These antagonist episodes in U.S.-Mexico relations may merit little more than a footnote in some basic U.S. history texts.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

For Americans of my generation, Franco was somewhere between an inexplicable cultural footnote and a ghost haunting the margins of Cold War geopolitics.

Read more on Salon

Ross spent longer than normal on these instructional paintings because he knew people would be studying them for years after, according to the auction footnotes.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was scheduled to attend, but he was a late scratch, leaving Beach, a former Georgia state senator, to claim a historical footnote.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"Health is the most compelling region for climate action, but for too long health has been a footnote in climate negotiations," Tedros said at a press conference in Geneva.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• explanation 
• reference 

When To Use

What’s the difference between a footnote and an endnote?

A footnote is a note at the bottom (the “foot”) of a page. An endnote is a note at the end of a text (such as an article, a chapter, or an entire book).The difference between footnotes and endnotes is their location, not their function. Both consist of information added to a text in another spot, such as an explanation or a citation of a source. They are both usually indicated with some kind of mark, often an asterisk* or a number¹. The same mark appears in another part of the text along with the corresponding note, either at the bottom of the page (making it a footnote) or at the end of the text (making it an endnote).Of course, if an article is only a single page, the note at the end could be called a footnote or an endnote.Here’s an example of footnote and endnote used correctly in the same sentence.Example: I use footnotes for tangential information so that readers can access it without turning the page, but I use endnotes for citations so they don’t clutter up the page.Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between footnote and endnote.