identify

To recognize someone or something and say who or what they are.

• Can you identify this bird?
• The witness identified the driver.
• We have identified the cause of the problem.

How to use it: identify someone/something as someone/something (She identified the bird as a robin.)

Similar words: recognize, name, pinpoint

Common phrases: identify a suspect, identify something as, identify the cause

To understand another person’s feelings because you have felt or experienced something similar.

• I identify with her worries.
• He identified with the young hero.
• Can you identify with someone whose life is very different?

How to use it: identify with someone/something (Many readers identify with the lonely child in the story.)

Similar words: relate to, empathize with

Common phrases: identify with someone, identify with something

To show clearly who someone is or what something is.

• His badge identifies him as a doctor.
• The label identifies the contents of the bottle.
• A red mark identifies the correct entrance.

How to use it: identify someone/something by something (The tags identify each animal by number.); identify someone as something (His uniform identifies him as a police officer.)

Similar words: indicate, distinguish

Common phrases: identify someone clearly, identify the owner, identify something by

To connect someone or something closely with a group, idea, or quality.

• She identifies strongly with the movement.
• The brand is identified with luxury.
• People identified him with the old political system.

How to use it: identify someone/something with someone/something (The public identifies the singer with that campaign.); be identified with something (The town is closely identified with shipbuilding.)

Similar words: associate, link

Common phrases: identify someone with, identify with something

To treat different things as the same, or join them into one.

• The theory identifies mind with matter.
• We should not identify wealth with success.
• The proposal identifies the interests of workers with those of the company.

How to use it: identify something with something (The argument identifies happiness with pleasure.)

Similar words: equate, unite

Opposites: differentiate, separate

Common phrases: identify something with, identify the two