identity
UK /aɪˈdɛntɪti/ · US /aɪˈdɛn(t)ɪti/ noun
Forms identities
- noun (now chiefly in technical usage) Sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same. “Benjamin Franklin established the identity of electricity and lightning.”
- 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. “I've been through so many changes, I have no sense of identity.”
- noun A name or persona—a mask or appearance one presents to the world—by which one is known. “This criminal has taken on several identities.”
- noun (mathematics) An equation which always holds true regardless of the choice of input variables. “The equation (x+y)(x−y) = x²−y² is an algebraic identity. It is true regardless of the values of x and y.”
- noun (algebra, computing) Any function which maps all elements of its domain to themselves.
- noun (algebra) An element of an algebraic structure which, when applied to another element under an operation in that structure, yields this second element. “Zero is the identity for the addition of real numbers.”
- noun (Australia, New Zealand) A well-known or famous person.
Synonyms
identicalness identicality sameness sameliness uniformity individuality beinghood ipseity personality personhood personness selfdom selfhood selfness selfship identity function celebrity personal identity identity element identity operator indistinguishability
Antonyms
unidenticality nonidentity difference differentiation differentness distinction distinguishedness diversity
Etymology
From Middle English ydemptite, from Middle French identité and its etymon Late Latin idemptitās, identitās, from idem (“the same”) + -tās (suffix forming abstract nouns) as a calque of Ancient Greek ταὐτότης (tautótēs, “sameness”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The state or quality of being identical, or the same; sameness.
- 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. identité, LL. identitas, fr. L. idem the same, from the root of is he, that; cf. Skr. idam this. Cf. Item.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “identity”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details