Meaning of source in English

source

noun [ C ]

/sɔːs/ us

/sɔːrs/

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the place something comes from or starts at, or the cause of something:

a source of heat/energy/light

a heat/energy/light source

source of Oranges are a good source of vitamin C.

Experts are trying to track down the source of the contamination in the water supply.

We walked up the river to its source in the hills.

Money is often a source of tension and disagreements in young married couples.

someone or something that supplies information:

The journalist refused to reveal her sources (= say who had given the information to her).

According to government sources (= people in the government) many MPs are worried about this issue.

Always acknowledge your sources (= say which books you have used) at the end of a paper.

See also

primary source
secondary source
tertiary source

at source (also US at the source)

at the place where something comes from:

Tax is deducted from my income at source.

More examplesFewer examples

The opera house is a great source of civic pride.
His main source of work had dried up, leaving him short of money.
Some alluvial deposits are a rich source of diamonds.
Engineers are endeavouring to locate the source of the problem.
He's established himself as a dependable source of information.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Origins and sources

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

People who reveal secrets & tell tales

source

verb [ T often passive ]

/sɔːs/ us

/sɔːrs/

to get something from a particular place:

Where possible the produce used in our restaurant is sourced locally.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Finding and discovering

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(Definition of source from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

source | American Dictionary

source

noun [ C ]

/sɔrs, soʊrs/

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something or someone that causes or produces something, or is the origin of it:

a source of energy/light

Spinach is a good source of vitamins.

His wife was a constant source of inspiration to him.

A source is also someone or something from which you obtain information:

The reporter refused to cite the names of her sources.

source

verb [ T ]

us/sɔrs, soʊrs/

to get something from a particular place:

Where possible the produce used in our restaurant is sourced locally.

(Definition of source from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

source | Business English

source

noun [ C ]

/sɔːs/ us

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the place or thing that something comes from or starts at, or the cause of something:

source of sth Customer complaints are a very important source of information.

source of income/revenue For many poor families, pensions are now the main source of income.

The project still may work if money can be found from other sources to supplement tolls.

The source of the problem is unrealistic expectations about what training can accomplish.

[ often plural ]

someone or something that supplies information:

Industry sources said discussions were taking place.

A source close to the firm said a total of eight employees would be let go.

at source

TAX

if your income is taxed at source, income tax is taken from your salary and sent directly to the tax authorities:

Tax is deducted from my income at source.

source

verb [ T, often passive ]

PRODUCTION

/sɔːs/ us

to get something, especially products or materials, from a particular place:

source sth from sth The supermarket decided it wanted to source all its milk from one company.

More and more of its merchandise will have to be sourced overseas.

Financial information can now be sourced from an endless stream of online services.

(Definition of source from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of source

source

Therefore, we investigate the effect of pension fund governance on the two sources of value creation separately.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Data have been collected using a variety of sources, including parent interviews, teacher assessments, child interviews, standardized psychometric tests, medical and official records.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, no large stockpiles of batteries or other obvious sources of heavy-metal contamination were found.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Of the various approaches to personality, they are clearly opting for trait and social cognitive approaches as the likely sources of valid data.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Building a useful pharmacotherapy data set from multiple sources.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The two main sources of information in the study were clinical records and staff evaluations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

To distinguish between the two different sources, two different shading colours are used for concentration values exceeding 80% of the maximum signal amplitude.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Two sources of influence may guide the development of any application.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Finally, the design of the sources may change.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Therefore, changes in the original sources will not be reflected in the new one.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

According to these authors, the readings often attributed to variant forms are retentions of meanings associated with their original lexical sources.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Finally, private-sector "uses" must equal private-sector "sources" of funds.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There are two types of channel ends: sources and sinks.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The limited information available on the sources of income of urban and rural households confirms these results.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The sparse endnotes for each chapter point to a book based almost entirely on secondary sources, and often very limited ones at that.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.