identity
/aɪˈdɛn(t)ɪti/
Frequency: 4.65 in modern English
Meaning
noun
Sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The difference or character that marks off an individual or collective from the rest of the same kind; selfhood; the sense of who something or someone or oneself is, or the recurring characteristics that enable the recognition of such an individual or group by others or themselves.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A name or persona—a mask or appearance one presents to the world—by which one is known.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An equation which always holds true regardless of the choice of input variables.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Benjamin Franklin established the identity of electricity and lightning."
- "But whenas a leſſer number of Agreements in each Paralleliſm (provided there were nothing contrary) could not but have been a ſtrong preſumption of the Identity of the Subjects of the Viſions in each Chapter, I mean, That the Two-horned Beaſt and the Whore are one, and the Seven-headed Beaſt in each Chapter the ſame; how fully aſſured muſt we needs be of theſe Identities, the Agreements of theſe two Paralleliſms (thoſe paſſages onely excepted of which I have given ſo fair an account) perfectly exhauſting the whole ſubſtance of each Chapter?"
- "[…] suggesting the two are different stages of the same species. The identity of the two species is further suggested by allozyme analysis […]"
- "I've been through so many changes, I have no sense of identity."
- "This nation has a strong identity."
- "His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in was dissolving and dwindling."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: ydemptite, identité, idemptitās,identitās, ταὐτότης
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /aɪˈdɛn(t)ɪti/
- British English: /aɪˈdɛntɪti/