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id
idnounthe part of the psyche, residing in the unconscious, that is the source of instinctive impulses that seek satisfaction in accordance with the pleasure principle and are modified by the ego and the superego before they are given overt expression.
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ID
IDnouna means of identification, as a card or bracelet containing official or approved identification information.
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I'd
I'dcontraction of I had:
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-id
-ida suffix of nouns that have the general sense “offspring of, descendant of,” occurring originally in loanwords from Greek (Atreid; Nereid ), and productive in English on the Greek model, especially in names of dynasties, with the dynasty's founder as the base noun (Abbasid; Attalid ), and in names of periodic meteor showers, with the base noun usually denoting the constellation or other celestial object in which the shower appears (Perseid ).
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id.
id.abbreviationidem.
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Id.
Id.abbreviationIdaho.
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ID.
ID.abbreviation(in Iraq ) dinar; dinars.
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I.D.
I.D.abbreviationidentification.
id
1 Americannoun
noun
verb (used with object)
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to identify.
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to issue an ID to.
Go to the admissions office if you haven't been ID'd yet.
abbreviation
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Idaho (approved especially for use with zip code).
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inner diameter, internal diameter, or inside diameter. Also i.d.
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contraction of I had:
I'd never seen anything like it before!
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contraction of I would:
If I were you, I'd be careful what I wish for.
abbreviation
abbreviation
abbreviation
abbreviation
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identification.
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identity.
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Military. Infantry Division.
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Intelligence Department.
suffix
suffix
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indicating members of a zoological family
cyprinid
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indicating members of a dynasty
Seleucid
Fatimid
abbreviation
abbreviation
abbreviation
suffix
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indicating the names of meteor showers that appear to radiate from a specified constellation
Orionids (from Orion)
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indicating a particle, body, or structure of a specified kind
energid
abbreviation
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Idaho
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identification (document)
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Also: i.d. inside diameter
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Intelligence Department
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Also: i.d. intradermal
noun
contraction
Usage
See contraction.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of id1
1920–25; < Latin id it, as a translation of German Es, special use of es it, as a psychoanalytic term
Origin of ID2
First recorded in 1935–40
Origin of I'd4
First recorded in 1590–1600
Origin of -id5
< Latin -id-, stem of -is < Greek: feminine patronymic suffix; or < Latin -idēs < Greek: masculine patronymic suffix
Origin of -id6
< Greek -idēs -id 1, as singular of New Latin -ida -ida or -idae -idae
Origin of -id8
From the Latin suffix -idus
Origin of I.D.12
First recorded in 1950–55
Explanation
Use the word id when you talk about the most basic, impulsive part of a person's mind. A baby's instincts for food and comfort, for example, are controlled by her id. In psychology, particularly in psychoanalysis, the mind is divided into three basic parts. The most instinctive of these is the id, the drives for pleasure, food, sex, and aggression. The id is the most chaotic and least organized part of the mind, controlled in a healthy person by the ego and superego. The word id is a Latin translation of the "Es" in Sigmund Freud's "Das Ich und das Es." Both Es and id mean "it."
Vocabulary lists containing id
Scrabble: Two-Letter Words
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Picture Us in the Light
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The Great Santini
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
So what was it like for you creating this character that was almost like your id unleashed?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
His evocative depictions of forest scenes are stunning in their own right, hypnotically expressive and made to tickle your id, unearthing deeply rooted primal sensations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
You can also get your fossil identified by sending pictures to the British Geological Survey or the Natural History Museum id unit.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
Unleashed desire for things like vengeance readily leak over into other id fantasies.
From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2024
I h id already seen the chicken shed.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
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Andrew Willis was a producer at ID software, the hugely influential studio that produced legendary series Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
The officers took their positions and scanned my ID, boarding pass and carry-on bags.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Outreach workers with ID lanyards strode through the trash-strewn landscape like lifeguards working against endless tides of fresh emergencies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
"No one in the family has an ID card... We have not even seen our country before."
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Once again Sydney held her breath as she pressed the ID against the card reader, and once again they were rewarded with the click of a door unlocking.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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"I'd seen itineraries, I had a booking reference number."
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
He added: "What I'd say is there's plenty of work to do."
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
I’d change into play clothes, take my bowl and begin the solemn work of crushing an obscene number of crackers into the carrot-flecked broth until the spoon could nearly stand upright.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
“We’re all professionals, so it’s not something I think was too difficult to be separate once we kind of got over the initial announcement that I’d be back in the team,” Balogun said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
I was hoping last night would be a success and that I’d be able to nail down the location of the Flash and who the boy is.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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Chrysalis or -id: applied specifically to the intermedial stage between larva and adult in butterflies: see pupa.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
It was the essential nature of the marriage right, discussed at length in Zablocki, see id., at 383-387, that made apparent the law’s incompatibility with requirements of equality.
From MSNBC ● Jun. 26, 2015
It was the essential nature of the marriage right, discussed at length in Zablocki, see id., at 383–387, that made apparent the law’s incompatibility with requirements of equality.
From Time ● Jun. 26, 2015
“If you look at it in Freudian terms, it’s like the id. It’s this unmasked side of ourselves,” he says.
From Time ● Apr. 17, 2014
The court found that the appellant “plainly manifested,” id. at 17, an expectation that his email would not be scrutinized.
From Forbes ● Feb. 8, 2011
As to divination with skulls or waxen models, see id., pp.
From The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia by Frazer, James George, Sir
Curtis introduced the manager of the Magic Lantern Cinema of Ketchum, Id., who spoke about being traumatized by John Carpenter’s original “Halloween,” Curtis’ breakout role.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2021
Local bans on personal fireworks have also been implemented in Montana's Yellowstone National Park and other cities like Boise, Id. and Santa Fe, N.M., are working to follow suit.
From Fox News ● Jul. 4, 2021
See Bragg to Davis, Id., vol. lii. pt. ii. p.
From Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Volume 2 November 1863-June 1865 by Cox, Jacob Dolson
For the whole discussion and correspondence, see Id., vol. xxxviii. pt. v. pp.
From Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Volume 2 November 1863-June 1865 by Cox, Jacob Dolson
See Damiron, Id. ii. 256-376.541.On the old coteries of Rambouillet, &c., see Hallam's Hist. of Literature, iii.
From History of Free Thought in Reference to The Christian Religion by Farrar, Adam Storey
“They refuse to give ID. They’re driving regular cars with tinted windows and in some cases out-of-state license plates,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2025
Longfellow said, “You already gave me an ID. If it’s fake, you fix it. The Pope is dead, let me mourn.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2025
“In many cases, a lot of these people have lost their ID. They’re unable to go to the bank. They’re unable to get their bank cards,” Ramirez said.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
"They asked me for my ID. Then this guy had a radio and he was like: 'Target achieved.'"
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2022
“Everything got very quiet. There was two hundred dollars in it, and all of Bunny’s ID. The policeman who’d found it said, ‘I think we’d better contact this boy’s family.’
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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Visit enroll.clearme.com/enroll to sign up with your government I.D.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
They pointed out the injustice of being charged for threatening police, when they regularly felt threatened by police I.D. checks.
From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2023
He returned with my I.D. and a freshly printed ticket, and informed me that I had 15 days to plead not guilty.
From Slate ● Jun. 21, 2023
The studio motored along, with a new class of top artists such as Jhene Aiko, Lizzo, Marcus Mumford and acclaimed hip-hop producer No I.D. coming through to create.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2023
I take the last steps to the main gate and flash the badge and I.D. card I carry in a special wallet that I picked up at the Academy.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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Like the first silent performers, the animated Minions are mutely expressive ids designed to play like gangbusters around the globe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
They are ids run wild in a society losing its mind.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2021
Working outside the studio system, often on shoestring budgets and on personal projects, they have more leeway to barf their ids up onto the screen, sometimes with deeply bizarre results.
From The Verge ● Jan. 31, 2018
But this is why presidents have an experienced national security staff to consult before unleashing their ids.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2017
In this manner the architecture of the ids becomes simpler and simpler, reaching the simplest conceivable condition in the active cells of the adult body.
From The Biological Problem of To-day Preformation Or Epigenesis? The Basis of a Theory of Organic Development by Hertwig, Oscar
Investigators later ID’d a 17-year-old as their suspect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2025
Davis ID’d sweep but couldn’t get outside to turn it back.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2022
I ID’d the Cargylls by consulting various online resources after I watched the episode screener.
From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2022
You’ve been doing it for the last year or so where people are just walking around ID’d as being Facebook contractors and they’re just capturing what they see with sensors on their glasses.
From The Verge ● Nov. 1, 2021
SAT Taste apples and other fall fruits and learning about growing them, get your mystery apples ID’d, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 20, 2016
She also ID’ed the man’s hand in the video as her husband’s, according to Newsweek.
From Fox News ● Jul. 15, 2019
The hacker was first ID'ed as a member of LulzSec last month, when private chat logs were leaked to the press.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2011
But beware of merely ID’ing a tree, snapping a pic and moving on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2023
In a tweet sent Wednesday, Scott-Railton said that details surfaced by other online sleuths had led “to high-confidence ID’ing of more troubling characters” and were referred to the FBI.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2021
“As we started ID’ing people,” says Schulte, “we realized there weren’t a lot of people who had moved.”
From Slate ● Jan. 4, 2012
Zachs with an H and Zacks with a K. All these men have lived in my phone contacts, unceremoniously IDed with the last name “Hinge” like ear tags on cattle monitored for progress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2022
The user also tested it out and found some poor results: “One of my harvestman photos was IDed as a jumping spider, one as a termite, and another one as a crane fly.”
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2022
New York State plans to approve as many as three casino licenses for the city, and operators and politicians have IDed Times Square as a potential location.
From Slate ● May 26, 2022
Kevin Sheekey, the campaign manager, wrote on Twitter that “3 is the total number of NDAs that have been IDed over thirty+ years pertaining directly” to Mr. Bloomberg.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2020
This must be the vial he’d IDed as Isaac.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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Another study found that PictureThis worked better than other apps at identifying 17 toxic plants, but it still wasn’t exactly great, IDing 59 percent of them correctly.
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2022
Or are some so insulated that they don’t know you don’t have to start every text by IDing yourself?
From Slate ● Apr. 26, 2018
When campaigns set out to identify voters’ preferences, what canvassers call IDing, they try to reach people on their home phone line or at their doorstep, because that’s where they’re registered to vote.
From Slate ● May 8, 2012
“Without it you were stuck with somehow IDing these voters.”
From Slate ● May 8, 2012
Wallace wound up the piece by IDing Gastroenterologist as a virtuoso response to the blue flow and schizoid flip of the Tube in its own terms.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2012
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.