Definition

Adverb: - In the same place: Used in academic writing, footnotes, and bibliographies to indicate that a citation or reference is from the same source as the one immediately preceding it. It is an abbreviation of the Latin word ibidem.

Usage

• ibid. is used to avoid repeating the full details of a source citation. It signals that the current note or entry refers to the exact same work, and often the same page, as the citation just before it.
• It is typically formatted in italics and followed by a period, as it is an abbreviation.
• It is primarily used in citation styles that employ notes, such as Chicago or Turabian.

Examples

• In a footnote:

  • Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (New York: Liveright, 2015), 102.
  • Ibid., 156. (Here, Ibid. refers to the same work by Mary Beard, but now to page 156.)

• In a bibliography or reference list:

Advanced Usage

• Ibid. with a different page number: When referring to the same source but a different page, the page number is added after , as shown in the first example.
• Ibid. without a page number: If the reference is to the very same page as the previous citation, is used alone. > 3. Smith, , 45. > 4. (This indicates the citation is again from Smith's book, page 45.)

Variants and Related Words

• Idem (pronoun): A Latin word meaning "the same," sometimes used in a similar context to refer to the same author in a list of works, but it is less common than in modern citation.
• Op. cit. (abbreviation for ): Meaning "in the work cited," it is used to refer to a previously cited work, but not the one immediately preceding it. It requires the author's last name (e.g., Beard, , 301).

Synonyms

• Same source: (This is a descriptive phrase, not a direct synonym.)
• Loc. cit. (abbreviation for ): Meaning "in the place cited," it is used to refer to the same page of a work previously cited, but, like , not necessarily the immediately preceding citation.

Notes

• Ibid. is not a phrasal verb or idiom. It is a standardized scholarly abbreviation.
• Its use has declined somewhat with the increased prevalence of parenthetical citation styles (like APA or MLA), but it remains important in historical and some humanities disciplines.

Adverb

1. in the same place (used when citing a reference)