id

1 of 7

noun (1)

: the one of the three divisions of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory that is completely unconscious and is the source of psychic energy derived from instinctual needs and drives compare ego, superego

id

2 of 7

abbreviation (1)

idem
plural ID's or IDs
: a document (such as a card) bearing identifying information about and often a photograph of the individual whose name appears on it

called also ID card, identification card, identity card

ID

4 of 7

verb

ID'd or IDed; ID'ing or IDing

transitive verb

: identify
ID'd the thief

ID

5 of 7

abbreviation (2)

1
Idaho
2
identification
3
independent distributor
4
industrial design
5
often not capitalized inside diameter; inner diameter; internal diameter
6
often not capitalized inside dimensions
7
intellectual disability; intellectually disabled
8
intelligence department

-id

6 of 7

noun suffix (1)

1
: one belonging to a (specified) dynastic line
Abbasid
2
: meteor associated with or radiating from a (specified) constellation or comet
Perseid

-id

7 of 7

noun suffix (2)

: body : particle
chromatid

Examples of id in a Sentence

Verb The police have not yet ID'd the victim. studies that show that eyewitnesses are surprisingly unreliable when called upon to ID the perpetrators of crimes
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
The dataset linking analyst names to their recommendations was not provided anymore by I/B/E/S. Clever researchers such as Kelvin Law at Nanyang Business School found a way to reverse engineer some of these anonymous ids. Shivaram Rajgopal, Forbes, 11 Feb. 2024 Kindness is comedy’s boring first cousin, the very thing that most standup comedians and their rampant ids want to get away from, in order to be their worst and thus their funniest selves. Hilton Als, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023
Verb
Between the lines: There are other tools on the market that ID drugs that can be repurposed. Tina Reed, Axios, 25 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for id 

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

New Latin, from Latin, it

Noun suffix (1)

in sense 1, from Latin -ides, masculine patronymic suffix, from Greek -idēs; in sense 2, from Italian -ide, from Latin -id-, -is, feminine patronymic suffix, from Greek

Noun suffix (2)

probably from Latin -id-, -is, feminine patronymic suffix, from Greek

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1924, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1941, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1944, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of id was in 1924

Dictionary Entries Near id

Cite this Entry

“Id.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/id. Accessed 16 Dec. 2024.

Medical Definition

id

1 of 4 noun
: the one of the three divisions of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory that is completely unconscious and is the source of psychic energy derived from instinctual needs and drives compare ego, superego

id

2 of 4 noun
: a skin rash that is an allergic reaction to an agent causing an infection
a syphilitic id
tinea pedis and the vesicular ids arising from itThe Journal of the American Medical Association
compare bacterid

id

3 of 4 abbreviation
the same

ID

4 of 4 abbreviation
1
identification
2
inside diameter; internal diameter
3
intellectual disability; intellectually disabled
4
intradermal
Etymology

Abbreviation

Latin idem

Legal Definition

id.

abbreviation
idem

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