Meaning of identical in English

Table of contents

Classifying Adjective
identical
Definitions
1. exactly alike
Examples
- « incapable of being perceived as different »
- « rows of identical houses »
- « cars identical except for their license plates »
- « they wore indistinguishable hats »
Synonyms
- same
2. being the exact same one
Examples
- « not any other: »
- « this is the identical room we stayed in before »
- « the themes of his stories are one and the same »
- « saw the selfsame quotation in two newspapers »
- « on this very spot »
- « the very thing he said yesterday »
- « the ver »
Synonyms
- same
3. having properties with uniform values along all axes
Synonyms
- isotropic
- isotropous
4. coinciding exactly when superimposed
Examples
- « identical triangles »
Synonyms
- congruent
Qualitative Adjective
identical
Etymology
late 16th century (in identical (sense 2)): from medieval Latin identicus, from late Latin identitas (see identity)
Definitions
1. (of twins) derived from a single egg or ovum
Examples
- « identical twins are monovular »
Antonyms
- fraternal
- biovular

Famous quotes

« Faith is never identical with piety. »
Karl Barth
« The ideal and the beautiful are identical the ideal corresponds to the idea, and beauty to form hence idea and substance are cognate. »
Victor Hugo
« In the present state of our knowledge, it would be useless to attempt to speculate on the remote cause of the electrical energy... its relation to chemical affinity is, however, sufficiently evident. May it not be identical with it, and an essential property of matter? »
Humphry Davy
« Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church. »
Thomas Aquinas
« The truth is that the religious and the scientific processes, though involving different methods, are identical in their final aim. Both aim at reaching the most real. »
Muhammad Iqbal