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Glite Dictionary
Identikit picture

Identikit picture

6.9
A picture of a face made from what witnesses say to help police identify a suspect
  • noun
  • /ˈaɪdɛntɪˌkɪt ˈpɪktʃər/
  • UK
translation icon : foto robot
  • The police created an identikit picture of the suspect based on witness descriptions.

Examples

  • Now, there was an identikit picture of Uwe Böhnhardt as a bank robber.

    CompleX (2021)

  • It seems that the statistical model has yielded a picture strong in its main lines but stripped of idiosyncrasy, like an Identikit picture of one person based on the differing impressions of many witnesses.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Using an identikit picture, the detective was able to narrow down the list of potential suspects.

  • After interviewing several eyewitnesses, the officer assembled an identikit picture of the person who committed the crime.

Synonyms

Identikit
vsIdentikit picture
  • Specialized
1 9.3

A picture of a person's face made from witness descriptions to identify suspects

is the same meaning but uses a fuller phrase adding an explicit picture word

Surface Forms

Identikit picture singular
Identikit pictures plural

Morphology

Identikit + picture

The meaning is directly compositional: 'Identikit' denotes a composite facial image used for identification and 'picture' denotes an image, so together they plainly mean a picture produced as an Identikit to identify a suspect. This follows regular noun+noun compounding and would be derivable by a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Identikit picture comes from old police work where officers built a face by joining parts chosen by witnesses: people picked a set of eyes, nose and mouth to make a full picture. So, the made image was used to 'identify' a suspect, and the term now means a created picture to help find someone.