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.
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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
Choosing and Evaluating Sources
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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:
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
The government body does not use any fraud detection systems to cross reference the identities on applications, and currently employs no trained fraud investigators.
From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2021
That’s an even better way to make sure companies can’t cross reference who you are.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 31, 2021
These people have different agendas and different biases, and you cross reference those lies.
From Salon ● Feb. 29, 2020
It is an information processing activity, bizarre at times, extremely innovative in the ability to cross reference information and fine-tune the message to the individual.
From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai
If you want to dig deeper, cross-reference location details using Google Street View.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 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
She begins to cross-reference family lore with a stunning trove of mail in original packaging, baptismal records from remote towns, court filings and Freedom of Information requests.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
"If sewage was being discharged upstream we would see spikes in things like ammonia and pH and we can then cross-reference that with temperature and dissolved oxygen levels."
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2023
He had at least two hours before the Master Librarian woke from his fitful sleep and came padding among the bookshelves to check a cross-reference, a footnote, a scribble in the margins.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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
The 23-year-old's research cross-references data from adverts, like phone numbers or addresses, to link the same sellers to multiple accounts.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2021
I searched endlessly through all the cross-references and all the parallel passages in the Palestinian Talmud.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
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
He cross-referenced books, a catalog from the 1920s, and photos on the British Museum’s website, and became convinced that some of the items he’d seen on eBay were part of the British Museum’s collection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
The campaigners cross-referenced United Utilities datasets showing when an asset was spilling against how much sewage it was treating at the time.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2025
When another spate of fires sprang up around a 1989 arson sleuth conference near Monterey, Casey cross-referenced a list of attendees with the first list.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2025
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
We went back to our sources, checking and cross-referencing.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
Using the same cross-referencing technique for previous reports, it is possible to track how the valuation multiples for the holdings have changed over time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 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
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
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.
