identity crisis

noun

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

Examples: identity crisis in a Sentence

Definition of identity crisis

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 institution or organization regarding its nature or direction

See identity crisis defined for English-language learners

Examples of identity crisis in a Sentence

He is suffering from an identity crisis.

Recent Examples of identity crisis from the Web

The identity crisis that plagued Brazil after the 7-1 debacle against Germany in their own World Cup in 2014 is in the past.

— josé luis sánchez pando, chicagotribune.com, "World Cup Group E preview: Brazil out for the reconquest," 30 May 2018
April through June 2008—our intrepid Microsoft guru Peter Bright evidently had an identity crisis.

— peter bright, Ars Technica, "From Win32 to Cocoa: A Windows user’s would-be conversion to Mac OS X, part III," 28 May 2018
Steph Curry turned a close Game 3 into an identity crisis in three minutes flat.

— ben golliver, SI.com, "James Harden’s Reputation Hangs on His Response to Steph Curry’s ‘Haymaker’," 21 May 2018
If Star Wars is dealing with an identity crisis, no film should provide more on-screen evidence than Solo.

— bryan bishop, The Verge, "Solo: A Star Wars Story — our spoiler-free review," 15 May 2018
The mutation spawns a chain reaction of identity crises.

— helena oliviero, ajc, "Things to do in and around Atlanta on Tuesday, May 15," 14 May 2018
Michigan went with an awkward co-coaching situation a year ago when a gap coach (Drevno) and a zone coach (Frey) combined to start the year with a group that seemed to have an identity crisis.

— nick baumgardner, Detroit Free Press, "Will Michigan's simplistic approach finally settle the offensive line?," 3 May 2018
The market is enduring something of an identity crisis, with its short-term outlook dimmed by large stockpiles and the U.S.-China trade showdown that threatens to undermine demand.

— Bloomberg.com, "Bloomberg," 21 Apr. 2018
Tune in tonight to watch a man try and resolve the identity crisis raging within, occasionally interrupted by monologues about uranium sales and ads for term life insurance.

— jay willis, GQ, "Sean Hannity Can't Decide If He's a Journalist or Not," 16 Mar. 2018

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

First Known Use of identity crisis

1941

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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IDENTITY CRISIS Defined for English Language Learners

identity crisis

noun

Definition of identity crisis for English Language Learners

: a feeling of unhappiness and confusion caused by not being sure about what type of person you really are or what the true purpose of your life is

Medical Dictionary

identity crisis

noun

medical Definition of identity crisis

: 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