classify
Americanverb (used with object)
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to arrange or organize by classes; order according to class.
- Synonyms:
- group, categorize, rate, rank, class
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to assign a classification to (information, a document, etc.).
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to limit the availability of (information, a document, etc.) to authorized persons.
verb
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to arrange or order by classes; categorize
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government to declare (information, documents, etc) of possible aid to an enemy and therefore not available to people outside a restricted group
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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classifiernoun
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unclassifiablenessnoun
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misclassifyverb (used with object)
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overclassifyverb (used with object)
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preclassifyverb (used with object)
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classifiableadjective
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nonclassifiableadjective
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unclassifiableadjective
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unclassifyingadjective
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unclassifiablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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classifysimple
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classifiessimple
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have classifiedperfect
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has classifiedperfect
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am classifyingprogressive
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are classifyingprogressive
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is classifyingprogressive
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have been classifyingperfect progressive
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has been classifyingperfect progressive
Past
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classifiedsimple
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had classifiedperfect
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was classifyingprogressive
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were classifyingprogressive
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had been classifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of classify
First recorded in 1790–1800; from Latin classi(s) class + -fy
Explanation
Humans seem to have the need to classify things, arranging them into different classes by such unifying traits as size, color, or shape. It’s fine to do this to inanimate objects, but doing it to people can be very wrong. The word classify contains the base word class, which means "category" and comes from the Latin classis, which actually referred to an army or group called to arms. It eventually came to mean "a group," and thus classify means "to group." As a security measure, you can also classify information that is not to be shared. Writer Ambrose Bierce once said, “The small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify we give the name of knowledge.”
Vocabulary lists containing classify
Vocabulary of the Common Core
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Academic Vocabulary: Core Tier 2 Words, List 3
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Words Middle Schoolers Should Use for Comparing and Contrasting Texts
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
All of them must have pedals to classify as an e-bike.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Critics say Japan also differs from many other countries by having out-of-date building regulations that can classify data centres as offices and not industrial facilities.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
"This has implications for critical real-world scenarios, like when a radiologist can accurately classify masses on an X-ray as benign or malignant fairly automatically, often without extensive deliberation, thanks to years of training," Cox said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
Arbitrators allowed Bodner to classify his leaving JPMorgan as voluntary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Staring at the worms, they tried to classify the shapes.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Food and Drug Administration classifies zinc oxide as safe and effective.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
That’s far from the 20% drop that classifies a bear market, Mayfield pointed out.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
The U.S. imports about $3 trillion of manufactured goods each year, and McKinsey classifies about a quarter, or about $750 billion, of those as the country’s “Achilles’ heel.”
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
That is because Dakhla is in Western Sahara, an area which the United Nations classifies as a "non-self-governing territory".
From BBC ● May 24, 2026
He learns the endless terms, the vocabulary that classifies the details of ancient buildings, writing them on separate index cards and making illustrations on the back: architrave, entablature, tympanum, voussoir.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Operational sound, such as those from an attraction, are classified differently than “impulsive noise,” such as a gunshot from a film production.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Some clinics call it the “wolverine compound” because of its healing properties, though New Zealand has recommended that BPC-157 is classified as a prescription drug.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
In such cases, it is up to regulators and clubs to make their respective arguments over how the arrangement should be classified.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Kalshi said in a filing on Tuesday that, contrary to the CME’s contentions, contracts don’t need a fixed expiration date to be legally classified as futures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Because the program he was working on was classified, few Americans ever knew what had happened.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
The region, made up of mountains surrounded by a desert steppe, receives just over 100 millimeters of annual rainfall, classifying it as an desert.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
In Kentucky, lawmakers recently passed a bill classifying TV-viewing patterns as “sensitive data” deserving of broader legal protections and transparency measures.
From Slate ● May 3, 2026
Employers have long said that classifying such workers as independent contractors gives both businesses and workers flexibility to operate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
In the second half of the 19th Century, photography became one of the British Empire's most persuasive instruments for knowing - and classifying - India.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
Stopping before the narrow garage, he sniffed the fumes from Paradise with great sensory pleasure, the protruding hairs in his nostrils analyzing, cataloguing, categorizing, and classifying the distinct odors of hot dog, mustard, and lubricant.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
