dɛzɪɡˈneɪʃən ɪˌdɛntɪfɪˈkeɪʃən ˌɹɛkəɡˈnɪʃən the act of designating or identifying something the attribution to yourself (consciously or unconsciously) of the characteristics of another person (or group of persons) the process of recognizing something or someone by remembering a politician whose recall of names was as remarkable as his recognition of faces experimental psychologists measure the elapsed time from the onset of the stimulus to its recognition by the observer evidence of identity; something that identifies a person or thing the condition of having the identity (of a person or object) established the thief's identification was followed quickly by his arrest identification of the gun was an important clue