identify

identify
i‧den‧ti‧fy S2 W1 AC /aɪˈdentəfaɪ, aɪˈdentɪfaɪ/ verb (past tense and past participle identified, present participle identifying, third person singular identifies) [transitive]1. to recognize and correctly name someone or something:
    He was too far away to be able to identify faces.
    The police took fingerprints and identified the body.
    identify somebody/something as somebody/something
    Eyewitnesses identified the gunman as an army sergeant.
    The aircraft were identified as American.
2. to recognize something or discover exactly what it is, what its nature or origin is etc:
    Scientists have identified the gene that causes abnormal growth.
    They identified a number of problem areas.
3. if a particular thing identifies someone or something, it makes them easy to recognize
    identify somebody as somebody
    His accent identified him as a Frenchman.
     
identify with phrasal verb
  1. identify with somebody/something to feel sympathy with someone or be able to share their feelings:
    Humans can easily identify with the emotional expressions of chimpanzees.
    He identified with our distress.
  2. identify somebody with something to think that someone is very closely related to or involved with something such as a political group:
    She has always been identified with the radical left.
  3. identify something with somebody/something to think that something is the same as, or closely related to, something else:
    the attempt to identify crime with poverty and social problems
     

THESAURUS

   ▪ recognize to know who someone is or what something is, especially because you have seen or heard them before: I hadn’t seen her for ten years, but I recognized her immediately. | Do you recognize this song?
   ▪ identify to recognize someone or something and say who or what they are: As they came closer, I was able to identify two of the group. | It’s delicious but I can’t quite identify the taste.
   ▪ distinguish to recognize and understand the difference between two or more things or people: By this age, kids can usually distinguish between right and wrong. | It’s often difficult to distinguish identical twins from each other.
   ▪ make something/somebody out to be able to see or hear something or someone – used when it is very difficult to do this: In the distance, I could just make out the outline of an island. | He whispered something but I couldn’t make out what it was.
   ▪ discern /dɪˈsɜːn $ -ɜːrn/ formal to notice or understand something by looking carefully or thinking about it carefully: I thought I discerned a faint gleam of hope in his eyes. | A number of differences can be discerned in the data for the three countries.