DictionaryAI

identify

verb
y-DEN-tuh-fy/aɪˈdɛn.(t)ə.faɪ/UKy-DEN-ti-fy/aɪˈdɛn.tɪ.faɪ/

Formsidentifies, identifying, identified

5 meanings of identify

Practice

  1. 1
    recognizeverbtransitive
    To work out or establish who someone is or what something is, including naming the species of a plant or animal.

    Investigators used dental records to identify the victim.

    The app can identify plants from a single photo.

    UsageOften identify someone as a person or thing (identified him as the driver), or identify something by a sign: by its song.

  2. 2
    reveal whoverbtransitive
    To reveal the identity of someone, making it known to others.

    The newspaper refused to identify its source.

    Witnesses were too afraid to identify the attacker.

    UsageUse to for the people who are told: she would not identify her friend to the police.

    Similarname, reveal, disclose, unmask, expose

    Oppositeconceal, hide

  3. 3
    feel connectedverbintransitive
    To feel closely connected to someone or something, sharing the feelings, values, or experiences of a person or group.

    Many voters identify with the party that represents their values.

    He strongly identifies with his hometown team.

    UsageIdentify with a person or group you feel close to; identify as is different, naming a label for yourself.

    Note

    The past participle also forms hyphenated compound adjectives such as gay-identified and woman-identified, which Marea Murray, writing in Gay Community News (1988), quotes her lover setting against each other.

  4. 4
    describe yourselfverbreflexiveintransitive
    To claim a particular identity, describing oneself as a member of a group or by a particular term.

    She identifies as a lifelong socialist.

    Many people in the survey identify as nonreligious.

    UsageIdentify as + a label, usually with no object: she identifies as a socialist. Identify with means feeling close to someone.

    Note

    The compound self-identify stresses that the person described chooses the term. It appears in research and reporting on how people describe themselves, usually in the same 'as' construction.

  5. 5
    treat as sameverbtransitive
    To treat two things as equal or the same, or to combine them into a single thing.

    Many people identify success with a big salary, though plenty of well-paid workers are miserable.

    The theory identifies mind with brain activity.

    UsageIdentify one thing with another: people identify money with success.

    Similarequate, associate, conflate, link

    Oppositedistinguish, differentiate, separate

    Note

    Older writers turned it on themselves. Edmund Burke urged in 1780, 'Let us identify, let us incorporate ourselves with the people', a step toward the sense of feeling connected.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of identify apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From French identifier, which was formed from Medieval Latin identicus ('the same') combined with the Latin verb faciō ('to make').

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts