Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To establish or recognize the identity of; ascertain as a certain person or thing.
  • intransitive verb Biology To determine the taxonomic classification of (an organism).
  • intransitive verb To ascertain as having a certain characteristic or feature.
  • intransitive verb To consider as identical or united; equate.
  • intransitive verb To associate or affiliate closely with.
  • intransitive verb To consider oneself as sharing certain characteristics or attitudes as another.
  • intransitive verb To associate oneself with or admire something, such as a set of ideas.
  • intransitive verb To self-identify.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make to be the same; unite or combine in such a manner as to make one; treat as having the same use; consider as the same in effect; represent as the same.
  • To determine or establish the identity of; ascertain that something met with is identical with something otherwise known; ascertain what a given thing or who a given person is; specifically, in natural history, to determine to what species a given specimen belongs: as, the child was identified by its clothing; the owner identified his goods.
  • To mark or characterize in such a way as to show what the thing marked is; serve as a means of identification for.
  • To make one's self a part of (an organization, movement, cause, etc.); be conspicuously active in the promotion of: as, he early identified himself with the abolition movement.
  • To become the same; coalesce in interest, purpose, use, effect, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make to be the same; to unite or combine in such a manner as to make one; to treat as being one or having the same purpose or effect; to consider as the same in any relation.
  • transitive verb To establish the identity of; to prove to be the same with something described, claimed, or asserted.
  • intransitive verb Obs. or R. To become the same; to coalesce in interest, purpose, use, effect, etc.
  • intransitive verb To coalesce in interest, purpose, use, effect, etc.; to associate oneself in name, goals, or feelings; usually used with with.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To establish the identity of someone or something.
  • verb transitive (biology) To establish the taxonomic classification of an organism.
  • verb transitive To equate two or more things.
  • verb reflexive To have a strong affinity with; to feel oneself to be modelled on or connected to.
  • verb intransitive To associate oneself with some group.
  • verb intransitive To claim an identity; to describe oneself as a member of a group; to assert the use of a particular term to describe oneself.
  • verb transitive, topology To map a number of points to one.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb identify as in botany or biology, for example
  • verb consider (oneself) as similar to somebody else
  • verb consider to be equal or the same
  • verb give the name or identifying characteristics of; refer to by name or some other identifying characteristic property
  • verb recognize as being; establish the identity of someone or something
  • verb conceive of as united or associated

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin identificāre, to make to resemble : Late Latin identitās, identity; see identity + Latin -ficāre, -fy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French identifier, from Medieval Latin identicus + Latin faciō.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word identify.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Abstractly, this is a contranym. One is making difference ("Your name/distinction is _____") while connecting sameness ("This is part of me!").

    May 14, 2008