classify
verb
Simple meaning
To declare something a secret.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
klasuhfySay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈklæsəfaɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To identify by or divide into classes; to categorize
To declare something a secret, especially a government secret
To make classy
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To declare something a secret, especially a government secret
Used this way, classify is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Nearby words
- assort , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use classify
- “How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Arranged into classes.
A person who creates classifications.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An adjective that classifies its noun (e.g., `a nervous disease' or `a musical instrument').
A short ad in a newspaper or magazine (usually in small print) and appearing along with other ads of the same type.
A short ad in a newspaper or magazine (usually in small print) and appearing along with other ads of the same type.
Common stock classified as A or B where A has certain advantages (e.g., voting power) that B does not.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A system for classifying things.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to identify by or divide into classes
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.