A referent (/ˈrɛfərənt/ REF-ər-ənt) is a person or thing to which a name – a linguistic expression or other symbol – refers. For example, in the sentence...

Referent power is a form of reverence gained by a leader who has strong interpersonal relationship skills. Referent power, as an aspect of personal power...

potential harm (or other unwanted coercion). Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions...

The nearest referent is a grammatical term sometimes used when two or more possible referents of a pronoun, or other part of speech, cause ambiguity in...

A case–control study (also known as case–referent study) is a type of observational study in which two existing groups differing in outcome are identified...

Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial...

is called the referent of the first object. A name is usually a phrase or expression, or some other symbolic representation. Its referent may be anything...

identified those five bases of power as coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert. This was followed by Raven's subsequent addition in 1965 of...

or place – is a name which ordinarily is taken to uniquely identify its referent in the world. As such it presents particular challenges for theories of...

although the pronouns can have a referent, they cannot have a direct relationship with the referent where the referent selects the pronoun. For instance...