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:
US regulators have published a consent order requiring Bank of America to work with a third party to identify and report suspicious transactions that went undetected.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
“It was let’s identify a problem that matters enough, that is important enough, that is valuable enough, that is painful enough, that customers will want to work with us on it,” said Segev, Cyera’s CEO.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
To avoid a pre-sale which she felt scalpers could exploit, Raye said the sign-up list had been manually reviewed to identify a shortlist of people believed to be "real fans".
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
As part of the latest settlement, Bank of America agreed to work with a third party to identify past suspicious activity and undergo an independent review of its programs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
He matched bullets to guns; he used plaster casts to identify footprints.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Then, artificial intelligence on the platform identifies patterns that lead to regretted purchases, which is ultimately supposed to help users spend less.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
Instead the author skillfully identifies pivotal moments in Mr. Brady’s life and explores how each particular plot twist reveals something about the man.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Matt Adams from BEAMA, which represents UK manufacturers of electric vehicle charge points, says he's confident that "if future research identifies the reason for car sickness that vehicle manufacturers can respond and improve accordingly".
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Sensitivity measures how successfully the system identifies manipulated videos, making the particularly high sensitivity important for a screening tool designed to keep fake content from slipping through.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
She introduces herself to Panem, identifies herself as the head of the rebellion, and then gives my eulogy.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Conflict Armament was shown shipping documentation for the equipment detailed in July which identified a Chinese precision-metal producer that advertises itself as a specialist manufacturer of custom aerospace parts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
A Greenpeace report published this month identified businesses based in Singapore and Malaysia which are linked to plots of land in Indonesia where wildfires are burning.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
The Program on Extremism has identified 83 American adults who traveled to Syria or Iraq since 2011 and were affiliated with jihadist groups there.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Black lung, that scourge of coal miners, had been identified in the mid-19th century but its cause, the inhalation of coal dust, did not come under federal oversight until 1969.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
The ex-CIA agent had been identified as James McCord, currently employed by the Committee to Reelect the President—which was headed by Nixon’s former attorney general, John Mitchell.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
OpenAI said they were able to use their AI models "to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier".
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
“Our investment approach is thesis-driven,” Gryseels said in an interview, identifying the advent of AI and corresponding infrastructure needs as a major theme.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
The same principles could support smaller optical sensors capable of identifying chemicals or biological substances without requiring large, sophisticated laboratory instruments.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
He said MI5's successes in identifying and expelling Russian spies from the UK had left the Kremlin dependent on paying proxies for attempted attacks.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Maybe the value is in the process—in touching each item, in naming and identifying, in acknowledging the significance of a cardigan, a pair of children’s boots.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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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