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id
idnounthe part of the psyche, residing in the unconscious, that is the source of instinctive impulses that seek satisfaction in accordance with the pleasure principle and are modified by the ego and the superego before they are given overt expression.
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ID
IDnouna means of identification, as a card or bracelet containing official or approved identification information.
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I'd
I'dcontraction of I had:
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-id
-ida suffix of nouns that have the general sense “offspring of, descendant of,” occurring originally in loanwords from Greek (Atreid; Nereid ), and productive in English on the Greek model, especially in names of dynasties, with the dynasty's founder as the base noun (Abbasid; Attalid ), and in names of periodic meteor showers, with the base noun usually denoting the constellation or other celestial object in which the shower appears (Perseid ).
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id.
id.abbreviationidem.
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Id.
Id.abbreviationIdaho.
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ID.
ID.abbreviation(in Iraq ) dinar; dinars.
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I.D.
I.D.abbreviationidentification.
id
1 Americannoun
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ids
plural
noun
verb (used with object)
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to identify.
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to issue an ID to.
Go to the admissions office if you haven't been ID'd yet.
abbreviation
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Idaho (approved especially for use with zip code).
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inner diameter, internal diameter, or inside diameter. Also i.d.
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contraction of I had:
I'd never seen anything like it before!
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contraction of I would:
If I were you, I'd be careful what I wish for.
abbreviation
abbreviation
abbreviation
abbreviation
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identification.
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identity.
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Military. Infantry Division.
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Intelligence Department.
suffix
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indicating the names of meteor showers that appear to radiate from a specified constellation
Orionids (from Orion)
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indicating a particle, body, or structure of a specified kind
energid
suffix
abbreviation
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Idaho
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identification (document)
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Also: i.d. inside diameter
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Intelligence Department
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Also: i.d. intradermal
abbreviation
suffix
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indicating members of a zoological family
cyprinid
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indicating members of a dynasty
Seleucid
Fatimid
abbreviation
abbreviation
noun
contraction
Usage
See contraction.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of id1
1920–25; < Latin id it, as a translation of German Es, special use of es it, as a psychoanalytic term
Origin of ID2
First recorded in 1935–40
Origin of I'd4
First recorded in 1590–1600
Origin of -id5
< Latin -id-, stem of -is < Greek: feminine patronymic suffix; or < Latin -idēs < Greek: masculine patronymic suffix
Origin of -id6
< Greek -idēs -id 1, as singular of New Latin -ida -ida or -idae -idae
Origin of -id8
From the Latin suffix -idus
Origin of I.D.12
First recorded in 1950–55
Explanation
Use the word id when you talk about the most basic, impulsive part of a person's mind. A baby's instincts for food and comfort, for example, are controlled by her id. In psychology, particularly in psychoanalysis, the mind is divided into three basic parts. The most instinctive of these is the id, the drives for pleasure, food, sex, and aggression. The id is the most chaotic and least organized part of the mind, controlled in a healthy person by the ego and superego. The word id is a Latin translation of the "Es" in Sigmund Freud's "Das Ich und das Es." Both Es and id mean "it."
Vocabulary lists containing id
Scrabble: Two-Letter Words
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Picture Us in the Light
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The Great Santini
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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:
Even Sigmund Freud’s conception of a wild, uninhibited id struggling against the superego was influenced by the emerging discipline of brain science—specifically, the Scottish neurologist and psychologist David Ferrier’s theory of inhibition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
You can also get your fossil identified by sending pictures to the British Geological Survey or the Natural History Museum id unit.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
By 2006, American Lawyer magazine observed he “has become so indispensable to Citigroup that he carries an employee id card from the bank.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
They war between rationality and heart, ego and id.
From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2025
“My lord,” Grover said, “please, you must come back with me! The Elders will never believe id They’ll be overjoyed! You can save the wild!”
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
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The voter ID measure is opposed by 55% of likely voters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
The change means businesses will no longer be required to let people use physical ID, but the government contends most establishments would.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Yoti's digital ID app, for example, will only let a user log in if a scan of their face matches that of the person who signed up for the app.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
I’m the executor of the estate and am in the process of obtaining a tax ID to open an estate bank account.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026
“Pleased to meet you,” Sydney joked, flashing the ID like a badge.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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I wanted to know if cryptocurrency actually offered a solution to the kinds of disastrous inflation and economic disenfranchisement the people I’d met had told me about.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
"I'd sleep outside if it meant getting a job wrestling one day. Honestly, it's my dream job," he added.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
None, I’d argue — so long as that filmmaker can present either side of said debate with as much tact as the other.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
And now, if you were my friend, I’d tell you this.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Instead of the group chat, I’d accidentally texted Trey.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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Chrysalis or -id: applied specifically to the intermedial stage between larva and adult in butterflies: see pupa.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by John. B. Smith
It was the essential nature of the marriage right, discussed at length in Zablocki, see id., at 383–387, that made apparent the law’s incompatibility with requirements of equality.
From Time ● Jun. 26, 2015
It was the essential nature of the marriage right, discussed at length in Zablocki, see id., at 383-387, that made apparent the law’s incompatibility with requirements of equality.
From MSNBC ● Jun. 26, 2015
“If you look at it in Freudian terms, it’s like the id. It’s this unmasked side of ourselves,” he says.
From Time ● Apr. 17, 2014
The court found that the appellant “plainly manifested,” id. at 17, an expectation that his email would not be scrutinized.
From Forbes ● Feb. 8, 2011
As to the desertion of the house after death, see id., pp.
From The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia by Sir James George Frazer
Curtis introduced the manager of the Magic Lantern Cinema of Ketchum, Id., who spoke about being traumatized by John Carpenter’s original “Halloween,” Curtis’ breakout role.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2021
Local bans on personal fireworks have also been implemented in Montana's Yellowstone National Park and other cities like Boise, Id. and Santa Fe, N.M., are working to follow suit.
From Fox News ● Jul. 4, 2021
Antipholis, thus Id. conj. a nipping hate Heath conj. unkind debate Collier MS.
From The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] by William George Clark
Id. p. 113.524.i.e. the age of Louis XV.
From History of Free Thought in Reference to The Christian Religion by Adam Storey Farrar
See a characteristic letter by Sherman on this subject, Id., vol. xxxi. pt. i. p.
From Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Volume 1 April 1861-November 1863 by Jacob Dolson Cox
You can also put his documents in a safe place, ID.; verification of all current income, including Social Security and records of assets.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
“They took my ID. They took my medication. They took my tent. They took all my clothes and blankets. They took my parents’ ashes,” Varghese said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026
“In many cases, a lot of these people have lost their ID. They’re unable to go to the bank. They’re unable to get their bank cards,” Ramirez said.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
Volkswagen, which is spending around $55 billion globally on EVs by 2026, launched its new-generation of ID. series in China early last year but missed its goal of selling 80,000 to 100,000 cars last year.
From Reuters ● May 25, 2022
“Everything got very quiet. There was two hundred dollars in it, and all of Bunny’s ID. The policeman who’d found it said, ‘I think we’d better contact this boy’s family.’
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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“And the most important thing is that my name I.D. and my trust factor is elevated dramatically. People know who I am.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 10, 2024
They walked for hours, raising their hands when they encountered Israeli troops with guns trained on them to display their I.D. cards — or wave white rags.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2023
He returned with my I.D. and a freshly printed ticket, and informed me that I had 15 days to plead not guilty.
From Slate ● Jun. 21, 2023
The studio motored along, with a new class of top artists such as Jhene Aiko, Lizzo, Marcus Mumford and acclaimed hip-hop producer No I.D. coming through to create.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2023
Still he ignored me, so I asked for his I.D.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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Like the first silent performers, the animated Minions are mutely expressive ids designed to play like gangbusters around the globe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Working outside the studio system, often on shoestring budgets and on personal projects, they have more leeway to barf their ids up onto the screen, sometimes with deeply bizarre results.
From The Verge ● Jan. 31, 2018
Late at night, the ids of his callers and guests flash like dorsal fins.
From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2017
After bottling up their ids all day, some people let it out in antisocial ways: polishing off the coffee without making more.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2016
At the end of his next paragraph he paused and, because the Russian was slow and stammering once again, went forward on ids own account.
From The Secret City by Sir Hugh Walpole
Investigators later ID’d a 17-year-old as their suspect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2025
I ID’d the Cargylls by consulting various online resources after I watched the episode screener.
From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2022
“Anyone can buy, without being carded or ID’d, a can of Reddi-wip or any other canister of whipped cream,” Addabbo told the AP.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2022
You’ve been doing it for the last year or so where people are just walking around ID’d as being Facebook contractors and they’re just capturing what they see with sensors on their glasses.
From The Verge ● Nov. 1, 2021
“We ID’d a few of those guys, and we went out and brought those guys in.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2020
She also ID’ed the man’s hand in the video as her husband’s, according to Newsweek.
From Fox News ● Jul. 15, 2019
The hacker was first ID'ed as a member of LulzSec last month, when private chat logs were leaked to the press.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2011
But beware of merely ID’ing a tree, snapping a pic and moving on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2023
In a tweet sent Wednesday, Scott-Railton said that details surfaced by other online sleuths had led “to high-confidence ID’ing of more troubling characters” and were referred to the FBI.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2021
“As we started ID’ing people,” says Schulte, “we realized there weren’t a lot of people who had moved.”
From Slate ● Jan. 4, 2012
Zachs with an H and Zacks with a K. All these men have lived in my phone contacts, unceremoniously IDed with the last name “Hinge” like ear tags on cattle monitored for progress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2022
The user also tested it out and found some poor results: “One of my harvestman photos was IDed as a jumping spider, one as a termite, and another one as a crane fly.”
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2022
New York State plans to approve as many as three casino licenses for the city, and operators and politicians have IDed Times Square as a potential location.
From Slate ● May 26, 2022
Kevin Sheekey, the campaign manager, wrote on Twitter that “3 is the total number of NDAs that have been IDed over thirty+ years pertaining directly” to Mr. Bloomberg.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2020
This must be the vial he’d IDed as Isaac.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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Another study found that PictureThis worked better than other apps at identifying 17 toxic plants, but it still wasn’t exactly great, IDing 59 percent of them correctly.
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2022
Or are some so insulated that they don’t know you don’t have to start every text by IDing yourself?
From Slate ● Apr. 26, 2018
When campaigns set out to identify voters’ preferences, what canvassers call IDing, they try to reach people on their home phone line or at their doorstep, because that’s where they’re registered to vote.
From Slate ● May 8, 2012
“Without it you were stuck with somehow IDing these voters.”
From Slate ● May 8, 2012
Wallace wound up the piece by IDing Gastroenterologist as a virtuoso response to the blue flow and schizoid flip of the Tube in its own terms.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2012
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.