Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of referential
Explanation
Anything that alludes or refers to something else is referential. Many hip-hop songs are referential, using samples of other songs, mentioning them, or quoting them. Your experimental poetry is referential, if it points directly or more subtly to sources and influences like Shakespeare and Britney Spears and Dr. Seuss. An architect might describe her modern designs as referential too, if they allude to older building styles, using Gothic arches and flat, Art Deco roofs. In general, the adjective referential is a fancy way to talk about the references, mentions, and allusions someone (usually an artist) makes to other things.
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.
Once the princess of glitchy hyperpop, Slayyyter spent nearly a decade steadily refining her sound into something entirely her own, culminating in a sonic landscape that’s studied and referential while indisputably fresh.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
Much like Thee Sinseers and labelmates Jalen Ngonda, Thee Sacred Souls’ music is referential without being copycat; modern classics made so because of their heartfelt familiarity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2024
The researchers are now curious to know if this ability to understand referential language is specific to dogs or might be present in other mammals as well.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 22, 2024
Burns’s prose pours out in dense, heavily referential paragraphs you may need more than a butter knife to cut through, and the forward engine of plot feels more like a suggestion than a fact.
From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2024
They are all too broadly referential, too vague, to be of real use to a manager or actor looking for a play to produce.
From Dramatic Technique by Baker, George Pierce
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
