Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use identify in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Identify means to establish the identity of someone or something. Example: “It was hard to identify the shoplifter because the CCTV records didn't have a clear image.”

Examples of identify by meaning

verbTo establish the identity of someone or something.

  • It was hard to identify the shoplifter because the CCTV records didn't have a clear image.
  • The formal name of a national having domiciliary register shall be identified by the national identity card.1953, Enforcement Regulations of the Name Act

verbTo disclose the identity of someone.

  • The Associated Press will not identify the suspect of the crime because he is a juvenile.

verbTo establish the taxonomic classification of an organism.

  • A recent biological inventory uncovered 41 species and 2 subspecies of insects new to science and many species not before identified in the State of Washington.2000, Bill Clinton, Proclamation 7319

verbTo have a strong affinity with; to feel oneself to be modelled on or connected to.

  • Cash endures because his most well-known songs—“I Walk the Line” and “Ring of Fire” among them—weave deeply personal narratives with which listeners of all stripes can effortlessly identify.2012, Christoper Zara, chapter 1, in Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's...

verbTo associate oneself with some group; to feel, or believe one feels, the same way.

  • Now, the vast majority of us identify with the second group, the one that believes in trusting the wisdom of the people rather than taking power away from them and concentrating it in the other hands.1983, S:Presidential Radio Address - 26 February 1983
  • "You're more gay-identified than woman-identified."1988 February 14, Marea Murray, “Friction Between The Factions”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 30, page 12

verbTo claim an identity; to describe oneself as a member of a group; to assert the use of a particular term to describe...

  • "The main message is that it's the interface between individuals and society that causes students who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual the most distress," said study first author Yue Zhao.2010 February 6, “Youth Who Self-Identify as Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual at Higher Suicide Risk, Say Researchers”, in Science Daily

More sentences with identify

  • The drummer on the last cut of their CD is not identified.From the entry cut
  • They identified a burst pipe as the cause of the flooding.From the entry cause
  • The lexical disambiguation relies on looking ahead to identify possible senses.From the entry disambiguation
  • He told me to identify a good midway point at which I could pause the job.From the entry midway
  • Salman Rushdie has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.From the entry assert
  • The poached blubber was definitely cetacean in origin, but the particular species could not be identified.From the entry cetacean
  • The markings on the plane identified it as belonging to law enforcement.From the entry marking
  • We identified the species of the snake by its blue-grey underbelly.From the entry underbelly
  • Something in the fridge smelled terrible. The offending article was soon identified and removed.From the entry offending
  • The step-by-step directions walked me through the assembly, but identifying the parts was still hard.From the entry step-by-step
  • The detectives were trying to identify the big enchilada who controlled the entire criminal network.From the entry big enchilada
  • Identical twins are so much alike, it is difficult to identify them.From the entry so much
  • The American Dialect Society and similar organizations exist to identify protologistic words and track their development.From the entry protologistic
  • As an experienced geologist, he can identify any rock no matter where he finds it.From the entry no matter
  • Rebleeding is not uncommon after endoscopic treatment for ulcers. Any rebleeding identified on follow-up requires evaluation.From the entry rebleeding
  • Patients with severe prosopagnosia rely on voice recognition to identify people.From the entry voice recognition
  • The patient's MOI is easy to identify, as opposed to the NOI, which is symptomatic only.From the entry moi
  • Here in Canada very few people gather charcoal burners for food, as it is tricky to identify.From the entry charcoal burner
  • To identify quality try asking, "what does it feel like?".From the entry quality
  • The detective identified him by a distinctive birthmark.From the entry birthmark
  • The FM station two hundred miles away was receivable, but the audio was too scratchy to positively identify.From the entry scratchy
  • The defense stipulates that the witness has identified my client.From the entry stipulate
  • Identifying as a therianthrope, Alex felt a deep, instinctive connection to wolves that shaped their sense of self and community.From the entry therianthrope
  • The government will aim to identify paperless refugees.From the entry paperless
  • Examining new drugs for pharmacogenetic impacts will help identify people whose DNA reveals that they should not take a particular drug.From the entry pharmacogenetic
  • The newspaper column's subtitler could not be identified.From the entry subtitler
  • Having spotted an unknown contact on radar, the navigation officer attempted to identify the vessel using the ship's AIS.From the entry ais
  • The patient's NOI is harder to identify because it is entirely symptomatic, as opposed to the MOI, which is obvious.From the entry NOI
  • The study identified a homodeletion in the CDKN2A gene, which is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers.From the entry homodeletion
  • While it's often not difficult to identify tokens while parsing, having a separate stage for lexical analysis simplifies the structure of your compiler.From the entry lexical analysis
  • And influencers are identifying the brands, music, and TV shows that Americans consume.2026 March 9, Cyrus Veyssi, “In Defense of Influencers”, in TIME, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2026. From the entry consume
  • McDonald identifies the suspect as Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, of Tumbler Ridge.2026 February 11, “Mounties have identified the suspect”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2026. From the entry Rotselaar

Meaning of identify

  1. verb To establish the identity of someone or something.
  2. verb To disclose the identity of someone.
  3. verb To establish the taxonomic classification of an organism.

Full definition of identify

Questions about identify in a sentence

How do you use identify in a sentence?
Identify is used as a verb. For example: “It was hard to identify the shoplifter because the CCTV records didn't have a clear image.”
What is a short sentence with identify?
“"You're more gay-identified than woman-identified."”
What does identify mean?
Identify means to establish the identity of someone or something.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: identify (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use identify in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/identify. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.