dereference
/dɪˈɹɛfɹəns/verb, noun
dereference is spelled D-E-R-E-F-E-R-E-N-C-E: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 40 million words in written English, the 194,306th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, dereference means “To access the value or object located in a memory location addressed by a pointer or another value interpreted as such; to access a value being…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in dereference?
| Letters | 11: D-E-R-E-F-E-R-E-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 40 million words; the 194,306th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is dereference?
Dereference appears about once in every 40 million words in written English, the 194,306th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce dereference?
- UK /dɪˈɹɛfɹəns/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of dereference
- dereferences present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- dereferencing participle, present
- dereferenced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dereference mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To access the value or object located in a memory location addressed by a pointer or another value interpreted as such; to access a value being referenced by something else.
Attempting to dereference a null pointer often results in a crash.
- 2
To operate on the file or directory pointed to by a symbolic link, rather than on the link itself.
With the find command, any symbolic links appearing after -follow will be dereferenced.
- 3
To dissolve a symbolic link by replacing it with a copy of its target.
noun
- 1
The act by which something is dereferenced.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dereference in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense access something to which a pointer or another value points:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | déréférencer |
| German | dereferenzieren |
| Portuguese | desreferenciar |
| Spanish | desreferenciar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does dereference come from?
From de- + reference.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).