Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To quote or refer to (a book or author, for example) as an authority or example in making an argument.
  • intransitive verb Law To refer to (a previous court decision or other legal precedent), as when arguing a case.
  • intransitive verb To mention or bring forward as support, illustration, or proof.
  • intransitive verb To commend officially for meritorious action in military service.
  • intransitive verb To honor formally.
  • intransitive verb To issue a notice of violation to.
  • intransitive verb To make reference to a previous court decision. Often used with to:
  • noun A citation or quotation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To call upon officially or authoritatively to appear; summon before a person or tribunal; give legal or official notice to appear in court to answer or defend.
  • To call to action; rouse; urge; incite.
  • To quote; name or repeat, as a passage from a book or the words of another.
  • To refer to in support, proof, or confirmation: as, to cite an authority or a precedent in proof of a point in law.
  • To mention; recount; recite.
  • To bespeak; argue; evidence; denote.
  • Synonyms and Recite, Adduce, etc. See adduce and quote.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To call upon officially or authoritatively to appear, as before a court; to summon.
  • transitive verb rare To urge; to enjoin.
  • transitive verb To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another.
  • transitive verb To refer to or specify, as for support, proof, illustration, or confirmation.
  • transitive verb obsolete To bespeak; to indicate.
  • transitive verb (Law) To notify of a proceeding in court.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another.
  • verb To list the source(s) from which one took information, words or literary or verbal context.
  • verb To summon officially or authoritatively to appear in court

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage
  • verb commend
  • verb repeat a passage from
  • verb advance evidence for
  • verb refer to for illustration or proof
  • verb call in an official matter, such as to attend court
  • verb refer to
  • verb make reference to

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English citen, to summon, from Old French citer, from Latin citāre; see keiə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French citer, from Latin citare ("to cause to move, excite, summon"), frequentive of ciēre ("to rouse, excite, call").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cite.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.