Definitions for identity
aɪˈdɛn tɪ ti, ɪˈdɛn-iden·ti·ty

Princeton's WordNet(3.44 / 9 votes)Rate this definition:

1. identity, personal identity, individuality(noun)

   the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity

   "you can lose your identity when you join the army"

2. identity(noun)

   the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known

   "geneticists only recently discovered the identity of the gene that causes it"; "it was too dark to determine his identity"; "she guessed the identity of his lover"

3. identity, identity element, identity operator(noun)

   an operator that leaves unchanged the element on which it operates

   "the identity under numerical multiplication is 1"

4. identity, identicalness, indistinguishability(noun)

   exact sameness

   "they shared an identity of interests"

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. identity(Noun)

   The sameness some individuals share to make up the same kind or universal.

   Etymology: Learned borrowing from Vulgar Latin identitas, from idem. See identical and idem.

2. identity(Noun)

   The difference or character that marks off an individual from the rest of the same kind, selfhood.

   Etymology: Learned borrowing from Vulgar Latin identitas, from idem. See identical and idem.

3. identity(Noun)

   A name or personau2014the mask or appearance one presents to the worldu2014by which one is known.

   This criminal has taken on several identities

   Etymology: Learned borrowing from Vulgar Latin identitas, from idem. See identical and idem.

4. identity(Noun)

   Knowledge of who one is.

   Etymology: Learned borrowing from Vulgar Latin identitas, from idem. See identical and idem.

5. identity(Noun)

   Any function which maps all elements of its domain to themselves.

   Etymology: Learned borrowing from Vulgar Latin identitas, from idem. See identical and idem.

6. identity(Noun)

   An element of an algebraic structure which, when applied to another element under an operation in that structure, yields this, second element.

   Etymology: Learned borrowing from Vulgar Latin identitas, from idem. See identical and idem.

Webster Dictionary(5.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Identity(noun)

   the state or quality of being identical, or the same; sameness

   Etymology: [F. identit, LL. identitas, fr. L. idem the same, from the root of is he, that; cf. Skr. idam this. Cf. Item.]

2. Identity(noun)

   the condition of being the same with something described or asserted, or of possessing a character claimed; as, to establish the identity of stolen goods

   Etymology: [F. identit, LL. identitas, fr. L. idem the same, from the root of is he, that; cf. Skr. idam this. Cf. Item.]

3. Identity(noun)

   an identical equation

   Etymology: [F. identit, LL. identitas, fr. L. idem the same, from the root of is he, that; cf. Skr. idam this. Cf. Item.]

Freebase(4.00 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Identity

   In psychology and sociology, identity is a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations. The concept is given a great deal of attention in social psychology and is important in place identity.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Identity

   ī-den′ti-ti, n. state of being the same: sameness.—adj. Iden′tical, the very same: not different.—adv. Iden′tically.—n. Iden′ticalness, identity. [Fr.,—Low L. identitat-em—L. idem, the same.]

Editors Contribution(3.00 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. identity

   Name, location of birth and date of birth of a person.

   Your name or date of birth forms part of your identity.

   Submitted by MaryC on March 3, 2020  

2. identity

   The features and form that a person has.

   My identity is different that of my twin as we both have different facial features and height.

   Submitted by MaryC on February 16, 2020  

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'identity' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2500

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'identity' in Nouns Frequency: #1042

How to pronounce identity?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say identity in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of identity in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of identity in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of identity in a Sentence

1. Magnus Ranstorp:

   Some of them use it as an exit strategy, they leave criminal gangs for a new belonging, a new identity.

2. Gail Saltz:

   You feeling great, sexy, or confident could shift the balance of the relationship, they fear losing the identity of the more confident one or losing the upper hand.

3. Judge Leach:

   In these circumstances, the accused must have foreseen and, therefore, did foresee that whoever was behind the toilet door might die but reconciled himself to that even occurring and gambled with that person's life, the identity of his victim is irrelevant to his guilt.

4. Keith Ablow:

   If your job is adopting a persona who is not really who are you and maintaining it for many years inside and outside the ring to some extent, one could wonder whether you are also more vulnerable to using substances to try to maintain that identity, this could be an unhealthy alliance of certain psychological factors with the fallout from physical side effects that result when you try to maintain affliction.

5. Anuj Somany:

   It has been acknowledged by many that an actor often plays the character in a reel life better than other contenders only if that projected picture role or image is opposite to his/her actual nature in a real life. It is usually a good method to know the true identity of a Cine and TV personality.

Images & Illustrations of identity

Popularity rank by frequency of use