identical

adjective iden·ti·cal \ ī-ˈden-ti-kəl , ə- \

|Updated on: 14 Aug 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: identical in a Sentence

Definition of identical

1 : being the same : selfsame

the identical place we stopped before

2 : having such close resemblance as to be essentially the same

identical hats

—often used with to or with

3 a : having the same cause or origin

identical infections

b : monozygotic

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identically

play \ī-ˈden-ti-k(ə-)lē, ə-\ adverb

—

identicalness

play \ī-ˈden-ti-kəl-nəs, ə-\ noun

See identical defined for English-language learners

See identical defined for kids

Examples of identical in a Sentence

We visited the identical place we stopped at last year.
They were wearing identical coats.
The boxes were identical in shape.
They drove virtually identical cars.
The results were identical to those of the first test.

Recent Examples of identical from the Web

Tyler Curtiss of Brookeville, Matthew Lipp of Woodbine, Joshua Shaffer of Mount Airy and Seth Taylor of Glenwood — all 18 — each face identical seven-count indictments, including three hate-crime charges.

— jess nocera, Howard County Times, "Grand jury indicts teens accused of hate crimes at Glenelg High School," 13 July 2018
Although few derided past presidents’ ultimately naive dreams of working with Putin, Trump’s professed identical goal is sending visible willies through Democrats and European allies alike.

— andrew malcolm, SFChronicle.com, "Will Trump stand up to Putin or fall for him?," 12 July 2018
Extra: Place cups of water, dirt and/or pebbles in the shade and identical cups in the sun.

— science buddies, Scientific American, "Warm in the Sun," 12 July 2018
England and Croatia are teams that innovated over time but have generally been immutable during the World Cup, sticking to virtually identical starting lineups except for group phase finales, after advancement was secure.

— ronald blum, BostonGlobe.com, "England ready to change the tune of its soccer history," 11 July 2018
The identical twin sisters brought their closest friends and family together for a ’70s-themed party at Good Times at Davey Wayne’s in Hollywood on Saturday.

— christina dugan, PEOPLE.com, "Inside Tia Mowry-Hardrict and Tamera Mowry-Housley's '70s-Themed 40th Birthday Bash," 10 July 2018
Having read the script more than 18 months ago, Jablonsky says that the adaptation from page to screen is virtually identical, save for a minor change to extend the ending.

— byron burton, The Hollywood Reporter, "Why 'Skyscraper' Composer Didn't Want a Marvel-Style Score," 12 July 2018
His contact rate, according to FanGraphs, is almost identical — 73 percent in 2018 and 72.9 percent in 2017.

— jon meoli, baltimoresun.com, "Orioles sit Trey Mancini in effort to reverse young slugger's season-long struggles," 11 July 2018
But given that the previous model, the TalkBand B3, was released back in 2016, presumably Huawei has made some improvements on the device, even if the design appears to be virtually identical at first glance.

— chaim gartenberg, The Verge, "Huawei’s TalkBand B5 leak confirms the company is still trying to fit a Bluetooth headset into a watch," 5 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'identical.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of identical

probably from Medieval Latin identicus, from Late Latin identitas

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1581

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

identical Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of identical

same, selfsame, very, identical, equivalent, equal mean not different or not differing from one another. same may imply and selfsame always implies that the things under consideration are one thing and not two or more things.