identity crisis

noun

1

: personal psychosocial conflict especially in adolescence that involves confusion about one's social role and often a sense of loss of continuity to one's personality

2

: a state of confusion in an entity, institution, or organization regarding its nature or direction

England is the last place on earth one would expect to find a national identity crisis, yet … the English are now asking, "What is my nation?"

—Wilson Quarterly

Examples of identity crisis in a Sentence

He is suffering from an identity crisis.

Recent Examples on the Web

At the same time, Lennon and Ono were navigating a post-Beatles identity crisis and watching the idealism of the '60s collide with the harsher realities of the Nixon era, including the administration’s efforts to deport them. —Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE, 22 Nov. 2025

Kaupinis’ feature debut Nova Lituania was the country’s best international feature film Oscar submission in 2021 and dealt with inter-war paranoia, nationalism, and the identity crises of post-Soviet nations. —Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 17 Nov. 2025

There’s almost always an awkward phase—not to mention an identity crisis that goes along with it. —Margaux Anbouba, Vogue, 13 Nov. 2025

And the thing that scared me the most was my cultural identity crisis, talking about being an Asian American. —NBC news, 9 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1941, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for identity crisis

• ecdysis
• haemoptysis
• hemoptysis
• lysis
• phthisis

Medical Definition

identity crisis

noun

: personal psychosocial conflict especially in adolescence that involves confusion about one's social role and often a sense of loss of continuity to one's personality