an operator that leaves unchanged the element on which it operates; "the identity under numerical multiplication is 1" (同)identity element, identity operator
exact sameness; "they shared an identity of interests" (同)identicalness, indistinguishability
the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; "you can lose your identity when you join the army" (同)personal identity, individuality
the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known; "geneticists only recently discovered the identity of the gene that causes it"; "it was too dark to determine his identity"; "she guessed the identity of his lover"