identity Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity
    personal identity; individuality.
    • you can lose your identity when you join the army
  2. 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. noun an operator that leaves unchanged the element on which it operates
    identity element; identity operator.
    • the identity under numerical multiplication is 1
  4. noun exact sameness
    identicalness; indistinguishability.
    • they shared an identity of interests

WordNet

I*den"ti*ty noun
Etymology
F. identité, LL. identitas, fr. L. idem the same, from the root of is he, that; cf. Skr. idam this. Cf. Item.
Wordforms
plural Identities
Definitions
  1. The state or quality of being identical, or the same; sameness.
    Identity is a relation between our cognitions of a thing, not between things themselves. Sir W. Hamilton.
  2. 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.
  3. (Math.) An identical equation.

Webster 1913