Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

non-referring

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.30 in modern English

Syllables: non-re-fer-ring
IPA

16

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

4

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Describing an inflection that conveys the lack of referentiality, turning the referential noun non-referring.

Example Sentences

"For example, you might send a son or daughter to a story with the following insteuctions: "Get a loaf of bread, some milk and a dozen apples". You don't have any particular loaf of bread, carton(s) of milk or dozen apples in mind, so the nouns "bread", "milk" and "apples" do not refer to any particular items. Or you may use a noun in such a way that it cannot refer to an actual entity. This would be true in sentences such as "I don't have any milk" or "I wish you had some apples". In either way, we say the words "milk" and "apple" are non-referring."

Etymology

From non- + refering, coined by American linguist Donald G Frantz.

Word Breakdown

Prefix: non-

Synonyms

non-referential non-particular

Questions

What does non-referring mean?: Describing an inflection that conveys the lack of referentiality, turning the referential noun non-referring.
Where does non-referring come from?: From non- + refering, coined by American linguist Donald G Frantz.

How to pronounce non-referring

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