Meaning & use
identify
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To work out or say who or what a person or thing is, usually after looking at the evidence.
Grammar: Takes an object: the witness identified the driver.
Patterns
- identify someone
- identify something as something
- identify someone from something
Police were able to identify the driver from camera footage.
Can you identify this bird by its call?
The doctor identified the rash as an allergic reaction.
verbtransitive
To find and name something that needs attention, such as a problem, need or risk.
Grammar: Takes an object, often an abstract noun: identify the cause.
Patterns
- identify a problem
- identify what/where/how
The audit identified several weaknesses in the payment system.
We need to identify what our customers really want.
The study identified three factors that raise the risk of injury.
verbintransitive
To feel that you share the experiences or feelings of another person or group, or to see yourself as part of it.
Grammar: No object; it is followed by with: she identifies with the main character.
Patterns
- identify with someone
- identify as something
Many readers identify with the lonely hero of the novel.
He has never identified with the team's fans.
She identifies as a Scot even though she grew up in Canada.
Word forms
| third person singular | identifies |
|---|---|
| past tense | identified |
| past participle | identified |
| -ing form | identifying |
Common combinations
- positively identify
- Investigators could not positively identify the body for two days.
- identify a problem
- The team identified a problem with the battery design.
- readily identifiable
- The logo is readily identifiable even from far away.
- identify with a character
- Children often identify with a character who feels left out.
- fail to identify
- The scanner failed to identify the fault.
Synonyms and how they differ
- recognize
- Recognize means you already knew the person or thing and know it again, while identify can mean working out who or what it is for the first time.
- pinpoint
- Pinpoint is more informal and stresses finding the exact spot or cause, which is narrower than identify.
- determine
- Determine stresses reaching a firm conclusion after investigation, so it is closer to establishing a fact than naming something.
- single out
- Single out means to pick one from a group for attention, rather than to name what it is.
Opposites
Word family
- identification noun
- the act of identifying, or a document such as an ID card
- identity noun
- who or what a person or thing is
- identifiable adjective
- able to be recognized or named
- identifier noun
- something that labels or names an item, common in computing
- misidentify verb
- to name wrongly
Commonly confused: identify or identity?
identify vs identity
Identity is the noun for who someone is; identify is the verb for working that out. You identify a suspect, but you protect their identity.
Practice
Many teenagers ___ with singers who write about feeling misunderstood.
Choose one answer.
Identify with someone means to feel you share their feelings. Identified to and are identifying of use the wrong pattern, and identity is a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “identify”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.