Meaning & use

idem

pronoun·Advanced

A Latin term used in citations and footnotes to mean the same author or work as just mentioned.

See it in a sentence

The second footnote simply read idem, referring back to the source cited above.

Scholars once used idem repeatedly in a bibliography to avoid repeating a long title.

A note on using this word

Idem is largely replaced today by ibid or by simply repeating the author's name in most modern citation styles.

Words with a similar meaning

ibid

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Make it your own

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