to prove or recognize as being a certain person or thing; determine the identity of to consider as the same or equivalent - (also intr) often followed by with:
to consider (oneself) as similar to another - (intransitive) often followed by as:
to declare oneself to be a member of a particular group: to identify as a communist to determine the taxonomic classification of (a plant or animal) - (intransitive) usually followed by with:
to engage in identification
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
i•den•ti•fy /aɪˈdɛntəˌfaɪ, ɪˈdɛn-/USA pronunciation
v., -fied, -fy•ing.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- to prove or verify the identity of:[~ + object]Can you identify the body?
- to serve as a means of identification for:[~ + object]Her birthmark identifies her.
- to associate or connect closely:[~ + object + with + object]The voters identified the vice-president with the old regime.
- Psychologyto associate (one or oneself ) with another person or a group by identification: [~ + oneself + with + object]The audience identified itself with the main character.[~ + with + object]The audience could identify with the main character.
- Biology[ ~ + obj] to notice the importance of (some facts):The paper identifies three important factors in economic depressions.
i•den•ti•fy
(ī den′tə fī′, i den′-),USA pronunciation v., -fied, -fy•ing.
v.t.
v.i.
i•den′ti•fi′a•ble, adj.
i•den′ti•fi′a•bil′i•ty, i•den′ti•fi′a•ble•ness, n.
i•den′ti•fi′er, n.
v.t.
- to recognize or establish as being a particular person or thing;
verify the identity of:to identify handwriting; to identify the bearer of a check. - to serve as a means of identification for:His gruff voice quickly identified him.
- to make, represent to be, or regard or treat as the same or identical:They identified Jones with the progress of the company.
- to associate in name, feeling, interest, action, etc. (usually fol. by with):He preferred not to identify himself with that group.
- Biologyto determine to what group (a given specimen) belongs.
- Psychologyto associate (one or oneself ) with another person or a group of persons by identification.
v.i.
- Psychologyto experience psychological identification:The audience identified with the play's characters.
- Medieval Latin identificāre, equivalent. to identi(tās) identity + -ficāre -fy
- 1635–45
i•den′ti•fi′a•bil′i•ty, i•den′ti•fi′a•ble•ness, n.
i•den′ti•fi′er, n.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged distinguish, place, know, determine.
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