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Glite Dictionary
🔒 To make secret 🗂️ To group
to classify

to classify

283 5.5
To say information is secret so only some people can see it
  • verb
  • /ˈklæsɪˌfaɪ/
  • Formal
translation icon : clasificar
  • The government decided to classify the documents to protect national security.
  • classified information
  • classified documents
  • highly classified

Examples

  • This man has been on a highly classified operation.

    Rescue Dawn (2007)

  • That incident is not only classified, but it never happened, you got it?

    My Favorite Martian (1999)

  • But then, why grant hundreds of thousands of employees access to classified information, as is often the case?

    Academic text (2011)

  • Please pay attention, as this message is classified and will not be repeated.

    The Incredibles (2004)

  • NATO, too, has been sharing previously classified information through the Partnership for Peace program.

    Academic text (1999)

  • You are to take measures to assure this remains a need-to-know classified fact.

    The Rock (1996)

  • Sorry, that's classified information, we had to sign all those non- disclosure forms.

    Antitrust (2001)

  • First, the president directed all federal agencies to permanently retain records related to classified human experiments.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Whoever's doing the blackmailing possesses classified information that could bring down our entire global network.

    The Bricklayer (2023)

  • According to Freeman and coauthors (2004), "The EPA has classified TCE as a probable carcinogen for humans."

    Academic text (2008)

Antonyms

to declassify
  • Formal
33 6.1

Remove a secret label from documents so the public can see them

How Secret

to classify
  • Formal
283 5.5
to restrict
361 3.1
to declass
  • Formal
6.9

Surface Forms

classify infinitive
classified past
classified past participle
classifying present participle
classifies third person singular

Morphology

classify = class (transparent) = class + ify

Standard verb formation from the noun 'class' with the productive suffix '-ify' meaning 'make or assign to a class', so the sense is directly derived.

Etymology

Classify comes from class, which means 'group'. In government and security, to classify a document is to put it into a particular group such as 'secret', so to classify a report is to label it as part of that closed group.