identify
Frequently Asked Questions
- recognize—to be able to tell what something is (and often to know its name), as in He immediately identified/recognized it as a monarch butterfly.
- diagnose or pinpoint, as in My mechanic was finally able to identify/diagnose/pinpoint the problem.
- associate, such as with a certain group or belief, as in She’s known for identifying/associating with the party’s reform wing.
- distinguish, as in Her height identified/distinguished her as the volleyball player.
- establish (who someone is), as in He has been identified/established as the main suspect. Relatedly, to identify someone is to figure out who they are—to establish their identity.
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:
The good news: you can, even without access to expensive feeds of data or costly models, get an AI to tell you identify the current macroeconomic regime.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Abbie admits she has "mixed views" on the tests, with her concerns including a current lack of understanding of endometriosis in order to identify it the first place.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
In practice, Hasen said, that means both parties typically work with the administration to identify nominees.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
Although the state agency does not identify the employees, Transparent California, a nonprofit database of public employee pay, identified the Redlands worker as Travis Martinez.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
The robot searched through her computer brain to identify the species.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
And while this latest study identifies an age threshold associated with the beginning of loss of uterine function, it was unlikely to be absolute.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Deutsche Bank strategist Adrian Cox identifies a whole host of companies in the space are also awaiting their opportunity to go public, like Databricks, Glean and Vanta.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
Like Mamdani, Lewis George identifies as a democratic socialist, not a communist.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
Beijing identifies key sectors for creating a ‘people-vehicle-home’ ecosystem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Keynote: As a musical term, keynote identifies the “key” of a piece.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
The team identified an important molecular process behind this effect.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
The department said it had already identified organizers and promoters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Any potential threats identified with the use of previously owned aircraft were "neutralised" in the new one, it added.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Police in Clearwater, Fla,. said they identified 11 such events this year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Regardless of their sexuality, most of them liked to remind themselves that, yes, they still identified as women.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
They have data showing how different asset classes behave in different market regimes, so they wanted to find out how well an AI agent can do identifying the current macro regime.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said the priority "remains identifying those responsible and ensuring that all available evidence is thoroughly examined".
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Its latest models, Opus 4.8 and Fable 5, scored 99.8% and 99.7%, respectively, on identifying potential risks in prompts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Buena Park police said they were identifying organizers of the potential Knott’s Berry Farm event and would “take appropriate enforcement action against anyone who engages in criminal or disruptive behavior.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
It is no fault of the apostrophe that some of our words need so much help identifying themselves.
From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author
Vocabulary lists containing identify
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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