classify
Americanverb (used with object)
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classifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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classified,
past participle, past
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classifying
present participle
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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.).
-
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:
Scientists initially sequenced three genes commonly used to identify and classify corals.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Meanwhile the US State Department continues to classify travel to China as a Level 2 advisory urging travellers to "exercise increased caution" because of the risk of arbitrary law enforcement, exit bans and detention.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
The invitation comes two days after a federal appeals court upheld the Pentagon's decision to classify Anthropic as a supply chain risk, which prohibits the United States military from using its models.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
In his research, when he told the participants that AI can now authentically reproduce Scottish accents, their tendency to classify the synthetic voices as human was significantly reduced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Together we’d convinced the science club to join the Galaxy Zoo project to help scientists classify galaxies.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
They developed the Nova system, which classifies the degree to which a food product is processed, from minimal to ultraprocessed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
On its website, it advertises an antidrone package that detects and classifies incoming drones through artificial intelligence and engages them if hooked up to the right air-defense system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies the chemical as a probable carcinogen and has linked exposure to bladder cancer, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
Asked why, he said that while there was no universally accepted definition of a megafire, a commonly used US benchmark classifies a wildfire as such when it burns more than 10,000 hectares.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 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
According to an ECI breakdown seen by AFP, around 28 million entries were classified as belonging to deceased voters and 10.4 million as duplicates, while millions of others were marked as absent, shifted or untraceable.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Last month, the county Office of the Medical Examiner-Coroner classified Aurora’s death as a homicide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Secondly, restructure Tata Sons by merging with itself two businesses which would change the way it is classified by India's central bank, helping the group potentially avoid a listing.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Those classified as "light process" users spent less than four to five hours a day using their phones for a mixture of social interaction, news, entertainment, and passive scrolling.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
“I am not sure I understand. Why are we not living? I feel like I am living—I am not sure I like the idea of being classified as not-living,” I say.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
The CDC has not yet included the Pennsylvania deaths in its national tally while it reviews the records and develops standardized criteria for classifying measles deaths.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
That includes classifying Astra as reaching a "critical cybersecurity threshold," which means OpenAI believes the model is capable of finding and exploiting cybersecurity gaps.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
The researchers note that a separate recent study by Zanno and Napoli reached a similar conclusion using different methods, classifying Jane and Petey as two distinct species of Nanotyrannus.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 22, 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
See if you can develop other ways of classifying these instruments in addition to the ways listed.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
