non-referentialadj.
/ˌnɒnrɛfəˈrɛnʃl/, U.S. /ˈˌnɑnrɛfəˈrɛnʃ(ə)l/ Not referential, without reference to anything. Also (Linguistics): not indicating a referent or having a referent as object.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > subjectivity, relation to self > [adjective]
internal1547
subjective1707
unobjective1828
subjectivistic1854
autocentrica1866
non-objective1865
non-referential1925
1925 C. D. Broad Mind & its Place vi. 305 Purely inspective situations would belong to the latter class. So would pure sensation, the mere awareness of an image, etc.... Let us call situations of the..second kind ‘non-referential’.
1943 Mind 52 176 I..shall say something more about the non-referential interpretation of ‘copy’.
1986 Amer. Speech 61 119 Such entities either have no adjective at all..or have an adjective which is nonreferential.
1992 Chicago Tribune 20 Dec. vi. 6/3 Poe was always beset by demons of the cosmic sort, and he probably was suffering what he considered non-referential anxiety—that is, stressed out for no apparent reason.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1925