Meanings
nounreferee (plural referees)
plural referees
- A person who settles a dispute.
- An expert who judges the manuscript of an article or book to decide if it should be published.
verbreferee (third-person singular simple present referees, present participle refereeing, simple past and past participle refereed)
present singular third person referees · participle present refereeing · participle past refereed · past refereed
- To act as a referee.
He has to referee three hockey games this weekend.
1 more example
She has to finish refereeing an article for Nature.
Synonyms & antonyms
noun(sports) the chief official (as in boxing or American football) who is expected to ensure fair play
Similar
Broader
nounsomeone who reads manuscripts and judges their suitability for publication
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinreferre“to carry back, to report, to notify”
- Old Frenchreferer“to relate, to refer”
- Middle English[Term?]
- Englishreferee
From Middle English [Term?], from past participle of Old French referer (“to relate, to refer”), from Latin referre (“to carry back, to report, to notify”); as if refer + -ee, that is, the person to whom something is referred for consideration.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek βραβευτής, βραβεύω
- βραβευτής (brabeutḗs)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- βραβεύω (brabeúō)to act as a judge of a game or contest
Arabic حَكَم, حَكَم
- حَكَم (ḥakam)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- حَكَم (ḥakam)person who settles a dispute
Basque epaile
- epailesport: umpire, judge of a game
Bulgarian съдия́, ре́фер
- съдия́ (sădijá)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- ре́фер (réfer)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- съдия́ (sădijá)person who settles a dispute
- арбитър (arbităr)person who settles a dispute
- референт (referent)person who writes a letter of reference
- рецензент (recenzent)expert who judges a manuscript
- реферирам (referiram)to act as a judge of a game or contest
- рецензирам (recenziram)to act as a judge of a game or contest
Catalan àrbitre, àrbitre
- àrbitresport: umpire, judge of a game
- àrbitreperson who settles a dispute
Chinese Mandarin 裁判, 證明人 /证明人
- 裁判 (cáipàn)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- 證明人 /证明人 (zhèngmíngrén)person who writes a letter of reference
Czech rozhodčí
- rozhodčísport: umpire, judge of a game
Danish dommer, dømme
- dommersport: umpire, judge of a game
- dømmeto act as a judge of a game or contest
Dutch scheidsrechter, arbiter
- scheidsrechtersport: umpire, judge of a game
- arbitersport: umpire, judge of a game
- arbiterperson who settles a dispute
- referentieperson who writes a letter of reference
- fluitento act as a judge of a game or contest
- arbitrerento act as a judge of a game or contest
Esperanto decidisto, arbitraciisto
- decidistosport: umpire, judge of a game
- arbitraciistosport: umpire, judge of a game
- arbitraciito act as a judge of a game or contest
Finnish erotuomari, tuomari
- erotuomarisport: umpire, judge of a game
- tuomarisport: umpire, judge of a game
- mattotuomarisport: umpire, judge of a game
- välimiesperson who settles a dispute
- sovittelijaperson who settles a dispute
- suosittelijaperson who writes a letter of reference
- arvioijaexpert who judges a manuscript
- tuomitato act as a judge of a game or contest
- toimia tuomarinato act as a judge of a game or contest
- tuomaroidato act as a judge of a game or contest
- sovitellato act as a judge of a game or contest
- suositellato act as a judge of a game or contest
- arvioidato act as a judge of a game or contest
French arbitre, arbitre
- arbitresport: umpire, judge of a game
- arbitreperson who settles a dispute
- arbitrerto act as a judge of a game or contest
German Schiedsrichter, Schiedsrichterin
- Schiedsrichtersport: umpire, judge of a game
- Schiedsrichterinsport: umpire, judge of a game
- Refereesport: umpire, judge of a game
- Schlichterperson who settles a dispute
- Schiedsmannperson who settles a dispute
- Ombudsmannperson who settles a dispute
- Ombudsfrauperson who settles a dispute
- Empfehlungsgeberperson who writes a letter of reference
- Befürworterperson who writes a letter of reference
- Protagonistperson who writes a letter of reference
- Rezensentexpert who judges a manuscript
- Lektorexpert who judges a manuscript
- schiedsrichternto act as a judge of a game or contest
- pfeifento act as a judge of a game or contest
- schlichtento settle a dispute
- entscheidento settle a dispute
- empfehlento write a letter of reference
- beurteilento write a letter of reference
- befürwortento write a letter of reference
- lektorierento judge a manuscript
- beurteilento judge a manuscript
Greek διαιτητής, διαιτητής
- διαιτητής (diaititís)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- διαιτητής (diaititís)person who settles a dispute
- εισηγητής (eisigitís)person who settles a dispute
- κριτής (kritís)expert who judges a manuscript
Hebrew שופט
- שופט (shofét)sport: umpire, judge of a game
Hungarian bíró, spori
- bírósport: umpire, judge of a game
- sporisport: umpire, judge of a game
Irish moltóir, réiteoir
- moltóirsport: umpire, judge of a game
- réiteoirsport: umpire, judge of a game
- moltóirperson who writes a letter of reference
- measúnóirexpert who judges a manuscript
Italian arbitro, arbitrare
- arbitrosport: umpire, judge of a game
- arbitrareto act as a judge of a game or contest
Japanese 審判, レフェリー
- 審判sport: umpire, judge of a game
- レフェリー (referī)sport: umpire, judge of a game
Korean 심판, 레퍼리
- 심판 (simpan)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- 레퍼리 (repeori)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- 중재인 (jungjaein)person who settles a dispute
- 신원보증인 (sinwonbojeung'in)person who writes a letter of reference
- 심사원 (simsawon)expert who judges a manuscript
- 심판을 보다 (simpan-eul boda)to act as a judge of a game or contest
Malay pengadil, wasit
- pengadilsport: umpire, judge of a game
- wasitsport: umpire, judge of a game
Māori rewherī, kaiwawao
- rewherīsport: umpire, judge of a game
- kaiwawaosport: umpire, judge of a game
- rewherīperson who settles a dispute
- rewherīto act as a judge of a game or contest
Norwegian Bokmål dommer
- dommersport: umpire, judge of a game
Polish sędzia, arbiter
- sędziasport: umpire, judge of a game
- arbitersport: umpire, judge of a game
- sędziowaćto act as a judge of a game or contest
Portuguese árbitro, juiz
- árbitrosport: umpire, judge of a game
- juizsport: umpire, judge of a game
- árbitroperson who settles a dispute
- juizperson who settles a dispute
- arbitrarto act as a judge of a game or contest
Romanian arbitru, arbitru
- arbitrusport: umpire, judge of a game
- arbitruperson who settles a dispute
- judecătorperson who settles a dispute
- referentperson who writes a letter of reference
- arbitrato act as a judge of a game or contest
Russian судья́, ре́фери́
- судья́ (sudʹjá)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- ре́фери́ (rɛ́ferí)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- арби́тр (arbítr)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- ампа́йр (ampájr)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- судья́ (sudʹjá)person who settles a dispute
- арби́тр (arbítr)person who settles a dispute
- поручи́тель (poručítelʹ)person who writes a letter of reference
- поручи́тельница (poručítelʹnica)person who writes a letter of reference
- рецензе́нт (recenzént)expert who judges a manuscript
Scottish Gaelic rèitear
- rèitearsport: umpire, judge of a game
Slovak rozhodca, rozhodkyňa
- rozhodcasport: umpire, judge of a game
- rozhodkyňasport: umpire, judge of a game
Spanish árbitro, réferi
- árbitrosport: umpire, judge of a game
- réferisport: umpire, judge of a game
- referísport: umpire, judge of a game
- refereesport: umpire, judge of a game
- árbitroexpert who judges a manuscript
- revisorexpert who judges a manuscript
- arbitrarto act as a judge of a game or contest
Swedish domare, skiljedomare
- domaresport: umpire, judge of a game
- skiljedomareperson who settles a dispute
- referensperson who writes a letter of reference
- dömato act as a judge of a game or contest
Thai ผู้ตัดสิน
- ผู้ตัดสิน (pûu-dtàt-sǐn)sport: umpire, judge of a game
Turkish hakem, bilirkişi
- hakemsport: umpire, judge of a game
- bilirkişiexpert who judges a manuscript
Ukrainian суддя́, рефері́
- суддя́ (suddjá)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- рефері́ (referí)sport: umpire, judge of a game
- арбі́тр (arbítr)sport: umpire, judge of a game
Vietnamese trọng tài
- trọng tàisport: umpire, judge of a game
Welsh dyfarnwr, dyfarnwraig
- dyfarnwrsport: umpire, judge of a game
- dyfarnwraigsport: umpire, judge of a game
- canolwrperson who settles a dispute
- cyflafareddwrperson who settles a dispute
- canolwrperson who writes a letter of reference
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with referee
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
referee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/referee
MLA
“referee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/referee. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “referee,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/referee.
Source: referee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.