identify
[ahy-den-tuh-fahy, ih-den-]
- 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 followed by with): He preferred not to identify himself with that group.
- Biology. to determine to what group (a given specimen) belongs.
- Psychology. to associate (one or oneself) with another person or a group of persons by identification.
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- to associate oneself in feeling, interest, action, etc., with a specified group or belief system (usually followed by as or with): He identifies as bisexual. She identifies with feminism. My family identifies Hispanic.
- to experience psychological identification: The audience identified with the play's characters.
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Origin of identify
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
diagnosepinpointdescribespotclassifydetermineanalyzeestablishfindselectnameseparatecatalogtagplacedistinguishpegcarddeterminatetabExamples from the Web for identifies
Contemporary Examples
He identifies as transgender on Scruff but not always on Grindr.
She told a story of a fellow employee who identifies as a butch dyke (a lesbian who takes on a more masculine identity).
Hitchcock identifies the good stuff quickly, and his own ideas are almost always right.
That goes without saying, as no one woman could aptly represent everyone who identifies within that category.
He identifies as “brusque” like other New York City residents.
Historical Examples
A French legend, on the other hand, identifies 'the man' with Judas Iscariot.
StoryologyBenjamin Taylor
At first she (like Janet) identifies sandwiches with biscuits.
A Tangled TaleLewis Carroll
Man sees the unexpected once and identifies it as hallucination.
Fantazius MallareBen Hecht
He identifies God's will with his wisdom, and God's wisdom with right action.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish PhilosophyIsaac Husik
To what extent she now identifies objects by their odour is hard to determine.
Story of My LifeHelen Keller
identify
- 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 foll by with) to consider (oneself) as similar to another
- to determine the taxonomic classification of (a plant or animal)
- (intr usually foll by with) psychol to engage in identification
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for identifies
identify
v.
1640s, "regard as the same," from French identifier, from identité (see identity). Sense of "recognize" first recorded 1769. Meaning "make one (with), associate (oneself)" is from 1780. Sense of "serve as means of identification" is attested by 1886. Related: Identified; identifying.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper