id
- 1Abbreviation of identification. A card or paper that shows who you are.
You need a photo ID to get on the plane.
You need to show your ID to get into the club.
UsageSay show your ID or a student ID.
- 2In computers, a name or number that marks one thing so it can be found.
Each row in the table has its own id.
Type the user id into the box and press Enter.
UsageProgrammers often write it small: id, ids.
Similaridentifier
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- 3
- 4Short for Idaho: a US state, used in addresses and on forms.
Send the package to Boise, ID.
Our cousins live in Twin Falls, ID.
UsageUse it in addresses: Boise, ID. In sentences, write Idaho.
- 5ID/ɪd/In Freud's theory, the hidden part of the mind that follows sudden urges.
In Freud's model, the id wants pleasure right now.
The monster in the movie is like the id let loose, all hunger and anger.
UsageUsually the id.
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Less common meanings
- 6To ask someone to show a card that proves who they are or how old they are.
Bouncers ID everyone at the door.
The waiter IDed my sister but not me.
UsageSay I got IDed: someone checked my card to see my age.
Similarcard
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- 7To say or feel that you belong to a certain group or type of person.
Many people in this town ID as Irish because their families came from Ireland.
I ID as a country person, even after ten years in the city.
UsageFollowed by as and a group or type: ID as a punk.
Similaridentify
- 8Short for intelligent design: the claim, rejected by scientists, that some features of life need a designer rather than natural processes.
The debate was about whether ID should be taught in schools.
Supporters of ID say life is too complex to have happened by chance.
UsageWrite intelligent design in full first.
- 9A short message, sound or picture on radio or TV that tells you which station is on.
The radio played its station ID right after the news.
Between shows, the channel runs a short ID with its logo.
UsageUsually station ID.
Similarident
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- 10A short form of id., from Latin idem. In lists of sources, it means the same source as the one just named.
- 11Short for intellectual disability: a condition beginning in childhood that greatly limits thinking, learning and everyday skills.
- 12Short for inside diameter or inner diameter or internal diameter: the width across the inside of a pipe or ring.
- 13Short for image description: words that tell what a picture shows, for people who cannot see it.
- 14Short for intellectually disabled: having major difficulties with learning, thinking and everyday skills.
- 15Short for industrial design: designing things that factories make in large numbers.
- 16In dance music, a song whose name or maker is kept secret, often because it is not out yet.
- 17Another spelling of Eid: either of the two main Muslim festivals, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
- 18Short for iron deficiency: not having enough iron in the body.
- 19Short for industry discount: a cheap plane ticket for people who work for airlines.
- 20Another spelling of ide: a river and lake fish related to the carp.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
A short form of identifier.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- id is a short form of identifier. en.wiktionary.org
From Latin id, meaning "it", used to translate a word Freud used in German.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Id comes from Latin id, meaning "it". gutenberg.org
- Id was adopted to translate a German word used by Freud. en.wiktionary.org