cite

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to advance evidence for

   I cited a bloody glove as proof of the guilt of the suspect.

2. 2
   verb

   to commend

   They were cited for their outstanding achievements.

3. 3
   verb

   to make reference to

   You should cite all the authors of the works that you reference.

4. 4
   verb

   To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another.

   WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.

5. 5
   verb

   To mention; to make mention of.

   Until then, the Sunak administration remains a study in ineffectuality on multiple fronts, leading Goldsmith to cite, not unreasonably, “a kind of paralysis”.

6. 6
   verb

   To summon officially or authoritatively to appear in court.

   According to the tribe’s chairman, rangers cited five of the demonstrators, who had traveled to Nevada from New York, Washington, California and the European country of Malta. The chairman did not say what they were cited for.

7. 7
   noun

   A citation.

   We used the number of cites as a rough measure of the significance of each published paper.

8. 8
   noun

   a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage

Etymology

From Old French citer, from Latin citare (“to cause to move, excite, summon”), frequentative of ciēre (“to rouse, excite, call”). Sense 4 is the original one.