Search Result for "identity": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (4)

1. the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity;
- Example: "you can lose your identity when you join the army"
[syn: identity, personal identity, individuality]

2. the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known;
- Example: "geneticists only recently discovered the identity of the gene that causes it"
- Example: "it was too dark to determine his identity"
- Example: "she guessed the identity of his lover"

3. an operator that leaves unchanged the element on which it operates;
- Example: "the identity under numerical multiplication is 1"
[syn: identity, identity element, identity operator]

4. exact sameness;
- Example: "they shared an identity of interests"
[syn: identity, identicalness, indistinguishability]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Identity \I*den"ti*ty\, n.; pl. Identities. [F. identit['e], LL. identitas, fr. L. idem the same, from the root of is he, that; cf. Skr. idam this. Cf. Item.] 1. The state or quality of being identical, or the same; sameness. [1913 Webster] Identity is a relation between our cognitions of a thing, not between things themselves. --Sir W. Hamilton. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 3. (Math.) An identical equation. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

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