identify

English Online Dictionary. What means identify‎? What does identify mean?

English

Etymology

From French identifier, from Medieval Latin identicus + Latin faciō.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /aɪˈdɛn.(t)ə.faɪ/, /aɪˈdɛn.(t)ɪ.faɪ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /aɪˈdɛn.tɪ.faɪ/
• Hyphenation: iden‧ti‧fy

Verb

identify (third-person singular simple present identifies, present participle identifying, simple past and past participle identified)

1. (transitive) To establish the identity of someone or something.
2. (transitive) To disclose the identity of someone.

3. (transitive, biology) To establish the taxonomic classification of an organism.
4. (transitive) To equate or make the same; to unite or combine into one.
   • 18 February, 1780, Edmund Burke, Speech on Economical Reform

     Let us identify, let us incorporate ourselves with the people.

5. (reflexive) To have a strong affinity with; to feel oneself to be modelled on or connected to.
6. (intransitive) To associate oneself with some group; to feel, or believe one feels, the same way.
7. (reflexive, with as) To claim an identity; to describe oneself as a member of a group; to assert the use of a particular term to describe oneself.

Synonyms

• ID

Coordinate terms

• authenticate (coordinate in IP networking sense)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• “identify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “identify”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “identify”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.