identification card

American  

noun

identification cards plural

1. a card giving identifying data about a person, as full name, address, age, and color of hair and eyes, and often containing a photograph: for use as identification at a place of employment, school, club, etc.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• identification cards
  plural

Etymology

Origin of identification card

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

identification card

According to the criminal complaint, Truelove sneaked into a restricted area of the Rockefeller Plaza lobby just before 9 a.m. on July 16, following an employee who used an identification card to swipe in.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

He showed her a fake BBC lanyard and identification card and on one occasion the woman walked with him to BBC Cymru Wales' headquarters in Central Square where he claimed to work in TV production.

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026

Nima said armed officers stopped him but allowed him to go after seeing his hospital identification card.

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026

Angel has worked in the fields since the eighth grade, after his mom bought him a Social Security card and an identification card for $150.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2025

Intercity travel in North Korea had once been impossible without a travel permit, which would be stamped or folded into a “citizen’s certificate,” a passport-size document modeled after the old Soviet identification card.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden