{
    "term": "identify",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "academic": true,
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "a2",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "identify",
            "heSheIt": "identifies"
        },
        "pastSimple": "identified",
        "pastParticiple": "identified",
        "ingForm": "identifying"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "to recognize somebody/something and be able to say who or what they are",
            "sensetop": "identify somebody/somethingidentify yourselfidentify somebody/something as somebody/somethingidentify somebody/something by something",
            "labels": "informal",
            "cefr": "a2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "She was able to identify her attacker.",
                    "contextForm": "identify somebody/something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Passengers were asked to identify their own suitcases before they were put on the plane."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Many of those arrested refused to identify themselves *(= would not say who they were)*.",
                    "contextForm": "identify yourself"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The bodies were identified as those of two suspected terrorists.",
                    "contextForm": "identify somebody/something as somebody/something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "two species of waterbirds that can be identified by their distinctive beaks",
                    "contextForm": "identify somebody/something by something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Did you identify all the pictures correctly?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I could identify him easily if I saw him again."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Jaime successfully identified all 45 different species."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Most students failed to identify the quotation."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Ms. Wilson was publicly identified as a CIA operative."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The newspaper declined to identify the source of the allegations."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Crime and punishment"],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["closely", "clearly", "increasingly"],
                "verb + identify": ["be able to", "be unable to", "can"],
                "phrases": [
                    "efforts to identify somebody/​something",
                    "a means of identifying somebody/​something",
                    "a way of identifying somebody/​something"
                ],
                "verb + identify with": ["can"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "to find or discover somebody/something",
            "sensetop": "identify somebody/somethingidentify what, which, etc…",
            "cefr": "b1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "First of all we must identify the problem areas.",
                    "contextForm": "identify somebody/something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Scientists have identified the gene responsible for the disease."
                },
                {
                    "text": "As yet they have not identified a buyer for the company."
                },
                {
                    "text": "to identify a need/factor/source/cause"
                },
                {
                    "text": "They are trying to identify what is wrong with the present system.",
                    "contextForm": "identify what, which, etc…"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Business trends are rapidly identified by this system."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He has stepped up efforts to identify and acquire other small companies."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The new test will enable us to identify more accurately patients who are most at risk."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The researchers hope to identify ways to improve the treatment."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a computer program to automatically identify any query ending with a question mark"
                },
                {
                    "text": "We have not yet clearly identified the source of the pollution."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Scientists have identified a link between diet and cancer."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["closely", "clearly", "increasingly"],
                "verb + identify": ["be able to", "be unable to", "can"],
                "phrases": [
                    "efforts to identify somebody/​something",
                    "a means of identifying somebody/​something",
                    "a way of identifying somebody/​something"
                ],
                "verb + identify with": ["can"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "to make it possible to recognize who or what somebody/something is",
            "sensetop": "identify somebody/something (as somebody/something)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "In many cases, the clothes people wear identify them as belonging to a particular social class."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a serial number that uniquely identifies the disk"
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/aɪˈdentɪfaɪ/",
                "audio": "id/identify/identify__gb_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/aɪˈdentɪfaɪz/",
                "audio": "id/identify/identifies__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/aɪˈdentɪfaɪd/",
                "audio": "id/identify/identified__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/aɪˈdentɪfaɪɪŋ/",
                "audio": "id/identify/identifying__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/aɪˈdentɪfaɪ/",
                "audio": "id/identify/identify__us_3.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/aɪˈdentɪfaɪz/",
                "audio": "id/identify/identifies__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/aɪˈdentɪfaɪd/",
                "audio": "id/identify/identified__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/aɪˈdentɪfaɪɪŋ/",
                "audio": "id/identify/identifying__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "mid 17th cent. (in the sense ‘treat as being identical with’): from medieval Latin identificare, from late Latin identitas (from Latin idem ‘same’) + Latin -ficare (from facere ‘make’)."
}