referent

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ref=er=ent

OXFORD DICTIONARY

referent, n. the idea or thing that a word etc. symbolizes.

Etymology

L referens (as REFERENDUM)

THESAURUS

referent

affective meaning, bearing, coloring, connotation, consequence, denotation, drift, effect, essence, extension, force, gist, grammatical meaning, idea, impact, implication, import, intension, lexical meaning, literal meaning, meaning, overtone, pertinence, pith, point, practical consequence, purport, range of meaning, real meaning, reference, relation, relevance, scope, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, span of meaning, spirit, structural meaning, substance, sum, sum and substance, symbolic meaning, tenor, totality of associations, transferred meaning, unadorned meaning, undertone, value