as in distinguishing
serving to identify as belonging to an individual or group
the marching band's striking black-and-silver uniforms serve as its identifying mark for thousands of parade spectators
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in pinpointing
to find out or establish the identity of
sufficient forensic evidence to allow investigators to identify the perpetrator
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in associating
to think of (something) in combination
for some reason, he always identified the color red with flowers
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of identifying
Scott MacFarlane, CBS News, 18 Dec. 2025
Another intriguing possibility is to wait until the wireless world’s progress to ever-shorter wavelengths finally hits the millimeter band, which is small enough to resolve most identifying details.
—IEEE Spectrum, 16 Jan. 2020
Washington Examiner Staff, The Washington Examiner, 8 Jan. 2026
Last April, the Wyn Beauty founder shared a sweet video on her Instagram with her daughter Adira, as the little one practiced identifying colors.
—Kayla Grant, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
All of that makes identifying his DNA extremely difficult, if not impossible, says David Caramelli, an anthropologist and ancient DNA specialist at the University of Florence in Italy, who is a member of the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project but was not involved in the new study.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 7 Jan. 2026
Notably, the device takes the guesswork out of identifying common triggers like nuts, gluten, and dairy.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 6 Jan. 2026
Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg is also looking into the issue, initially identifying nearly 1,000 potentially improper PPP loans involving city employees.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
Alabama has heard the rumors of Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables and his staff being good at identifying signs that opposing offenses use.
—Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2025
The discovery helped open the door to more recent developments such as tinkering with the genetic makeup of living things, treating disease by inserting genes into patients, identifying human remains and criminal suspects from DNA samples, and tracing family trees and ancient human ancestors.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 9 Nov. 2025
Caroline Hirsch, founder and former owner of the New York comedy club Carolines on Broadway, is known for an innate knack for identifying the next big thing in comedy… and Gaffigan was one of those comedians.
—Rosemary Rossi, Variety, 9 Nov. 2025
Adjective
There are also passports from Lithuania, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Russia, with most identifying information blacked out.
—Scott MacFarlane, CBS News, 18 Dec. 2025
Another intriguing possibility is to wait until the wireless world’s progress to ever-shorter wavelengths finally hits the millimeter band, which is small enough to resolve most identifying details.
—IEEE Spectrum, 16 Jan. 2020
Verb
Officers were reportedly reviewing security camera footage in the area in hopes of identifying a suspect.
—Washington Examiner Staff, The Washington Examiner, 8 Jan. 2026
Last April, the Wyn Beauty founder shared a sweet video on her Instagram with her daughter Adira, as the little one practiced identifying colors.
—Kayla Grant, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
All of that makes identifying his DNA extremely difficult, if not impossible, says David Caramelli, an anthropologist and ancient DNA specialist at the University of Florence in Italy, who is a member of the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project but was not involved in the new study.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 7 Jan. 2026
Notably, the device takes the guesswork out of identifying common triggers like nuts, gluten, and dairy.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 6 Jan. 2026
Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg is also looking into the issue, initially identifying nearly 1,000 potentially improper PPP loans involving city employees.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
Alabama has heard the rumors of Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables and his staff being good at identifying signs that opposing offenses use.
—Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2025
The discovery helped open the door to more recent developments such as tinkering with the genetic makeup of living things, treating disease by inserting genes into patients, identifying human remains and criminal suspects from DNA samples, and tracing family trees and ancient human ancestors.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 9 Nov. 2025
Caroline Hirsch, founder and former owner of the New York comedy club Carolines on Broadway, is known for an innate knack for identifying the next big thing in comedy… and Gaffigan was one of those comedians.
—Rosemary Rossi, Variety, 9 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for identifying
Verb
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By clearly distinguishing material falling inward to feed the black hole from dust being pushed outward in energetic winds, the new Webb observations provide a crucial step toward understanding how supermassive black holes grow and influence their host galaxies, researchers say.—
Sharmila Kuthunur,
Space.com,
19 Jan. 2026
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Cloudflare’s tool works as a pay-per-crawl service, distinguishing GenAI crawlers that take information without sending much traffic back to creators, from search crawlers, which actually drive traffic back to the original source.—
Bill Ready,
Fortune,
19 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Additionally, the dolphins may also be associating with non-dolphin-eating orcas to learn to distinguish their sounds from those of the threatening mammal-eating killer whales.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
12 Dec. 2025
-
Hellfire Club Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) is the only one still associating himself with the Hellfire Club at Hawkins High School, because the rest of the student body still thinks Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) is responsible for killing Vecna’s victims last season.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
26 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Lack of Fenestration Young plants or those not receiving enough light may not develop the characteristic leaf holes or splits.—
SJ McShane,
Martha Stewart,
18 Jan. 2026
-
But nothing in Ellis’ reporting or what’s known about the county investigation validates Uber’s implicit argument that its behavior is generally characteristic of the plaintiffs’ bar.—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Jan. 2026
Verb
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But the method could prove essential for pinpointing hazardous debris on the ground to aid recovery and remediation efforts.—
Lee Billings,
Scientific American,
21 Jan. 2026
-
That same month, the business also plans to work with other organizations in funding Blue Star Families’ release of Military Spouse Employment Research with the aim of pinpointing actionable solutions to their raging unemployment.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
19 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Suicides, for insance, are statistically rare, so correlating them with other trends is notoriously difficult.—
Kaitlyn Tiffany,
The Atlantic,
18 Dec. 2025
-
Since the drugs have come on the market, declines in obesity rates have been higher among those between ages 40 and 64, correlating with a higher reliance on GLP-1 medications for that age group.—
Yuki Noguchi,
NPR,
28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The distinctive design catches the eye of thousands of people passing by each day.—
James Taylor,
CBS News,
22 Jan. 2026
-
The system’s most distinctive feature lies in its ability to print multiple materials simultaneously.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The series chronicles three New Yorkers who come together over their love of true crime podcasts and end up finding themselves at the center of more than a few true crimes.—
Brenton Blanchet,
PEOPLE,
12 Jan. 2026
-
At least in the interim, Duke deserves credit for finding ways to win despite some of its defensive deficiencies.—
Brendan Marks,
New York Times,
11 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Maryland's redistricting plan shifts state's 1st district on the Eastern Shore —crossing the Bay Bridge — connecting it to Anne Arundel and Howard counties.—
Janay Reece,
CBS News,
22 Jan. 2026
-
The system offers a choice of audio inputs, has intelligent multi-source switching and multipoint capability for connecting with two Bluetooth devices simultaneously.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Identifying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/identifying. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.
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