These objects were stuck somewhere between gag and symbol — a symbol without a referent.
The "whole point", they said, is that their "sculptures" only "have themselves as a referent in the world".
According to Frege, the meaning of an expression consists of two elements: a referent and what he called a "sense".
"Jane Austen," whoever he/she was (or is), purposively used the name "Bennet" as a referent signifier to JonBenét Ramsey, thereby negotiating and prioritizing the space between conflicts of socialization and dystopian scenarios of corporeal tension.
Rashid Khalidi put the case in "The Iron Cage": "Very little that Great Britain did in Palestine, or in any other colony, mandate, possession, or sphere of influence, was without a referent to its rich colonial heritage".
If ever there was a referent for nullity, it is the Karoo: miles of nothing; very little, apparently, going on; a stillness so profound it resounds in the ears.
I, too, love "Seinfeld," but is there not a problem when the show is cited as a referent for one's Jewish identity?
We must establish a referent class for our constructed categories.
To evaluate retrospectively indications of moxifloxacin prescriptions in inpatients with tuberculosis in a referent teaching hospital.
The instructor then asked whether 5 × 3 had a referent in this problem situation.
An expression without a referent ("Pegasus") needn't lack a meaning, since it still has a sense.
