Identical Meaning
/ɪˈdɛntɪkl̩/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjBearing full likeness by having precisely the same set of characteristics; indistinguishable.
adjNot different or other; not another or others; not different as regards self; selfsame; numerically identical.
Sentence Examples
Your chair is identical to mine.
I delivered identical twins.
I think Tom and John are identical twins.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The two fingerprints were ____, leaving no doubt they belonged to the same person.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The two tiny twins looked so ____ that even their own parents occasionally had trouble telling them apart.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English identic Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al English -al English identical From identic + -al.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"By this means as many absolutely identical plates can be produced as may be required, and being hardened they will yield a very large number of prints without any appreciable deterioration."
— 1911, “Bank-Notes”, in Encyclopædia Britannica:
"For example, assume that 10000 identical chairs were produced through incurring the following costs:..."
— 1972, James H. Rossell, William Wayne Frasure, Managerial Accounting:
"The zygote soon divides into two identical cells."
— 1988, John Byrum, Cells:
"The best of the joke, too, is, that the very coal-merchant who is loudest in his complaints against the person who defrauded him, is the identical man who sat in the centre of the very front row of the pit last night and laughed the most boisterously at this very same thing,--and not so well done either."
— 1837, Charles Dickens, The Pantomime of Life:
"These men were grandsons of a certain Guntram, who, according to some authorities, is identical with a Count Guntram who flourished during the reign of the emperor Otto the Great, and whose ancestry can be traced back to the time of the Merovingian kings."
— 1911, Arthur William Holland, “Habsburg”, in Encyclopædia Britannica:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The two fingerprints were ____, leaving no doubt they belonged to the same person.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The two tiny twins looked so ____ that even their own parents occasionally had trouble telling them apart.