cite

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See also: cité, citë, cítě, and c̣itë

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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.

Verb

cite (third-person singular simple present cites, present participle citing, simple past and past participle cited)

  1. (transitive) To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another.
  2. (transitive) To mention; to make mention of.
    • 2023 June 30, Marina Hyde, “The tide is coming in fast on Rishi Sunak – and it’s full of sewage”, in The Guardian:
      Until then, the Sunak administration remains a study in ineffectuality on multiple fronts, leading Goldsmith to cite, not unreasonably, “a kind of paralysis”.
  3. To list the source(s) from which one took information, words or literary or verbal context.
  4. (transitive, law) To summon officially or authoritatively to appear in court.
    • 2023 August 29, “Tribal ranger draws weapon on climate activists blocking road to Burning Man; conduct under review”, in AP News:
      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.
Derived terms
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

From the first syllable of citation. Analogous to quote, from quotation.

Noun

cite (plural cites)

  1. (informal) A citation.
    We used the number of cites as a rough measure of the significance of each published paper.
Derived terms
Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

Noun

cite

  1. vocative singular of cit

French

Pronunciation

Verb

cite

  1. inflection of citer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Participle

cite

  1. vocative masculine singular of citus

References

  • cite”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • cite in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cite.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /siˈteː/, /ˈsiteː/

Noun

cite (plural cites)

  1. A city (settlement larger than a town)
    Coordinate term: toun
  2. (religion) A stronghold or fortress.
  3. (rare) The people of a city.

Descendants

  • English: city (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: ceety, ceetie

References

Portuguese

Verb

cite

  1. inflection of citar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Spain) /ˈθite/
  • IPA(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /ˈsite/
  • Rhymes: -ite
  • Syllabification: ci‧te

Verb

cite

  1. inflection of citar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative