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Glite Dictionary
🔒 To make secret 🗂️ To group
to classify

to classify

110 3.4
To put people or things into groups based on shared features
  • verb
  • /ˈklæsɪˌfaɪ/
translation icon : clasificar
  • Teachers often classify students into different groups to provide targeted support in learning.
  • classify students
  • classify according to
  • classify participants

When my son Giles was young, autism was classed as a rare disorder.

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Examples

  • The participants were 336 college students who had been classified as having learning disabilities.

    Academic text (2013)

  • But Marx adds another concept, another way to classify people into classes.

    Robinson Erhardt

  • We want to classify the energy levels of systems.

    Stanford

  • -You want to classify prime numbers?

    Contact (1997)

  • Unfortunately, there is not enough data to classify the individual students in this manner.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Ideally, one would like to be able to classify students in some manner.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Twenty percent of all high school students were classified as English language learners.

    Academic text (2013)

  • So in this case, they're asking us to classify what type of triangle we have.

  • Can we get extra extra credit if we classify the fossil by genus and species?

    Camel Spiders (2011)

  • Based on these criteria, 64% of schools were classified as sustaining schools.

    Academic text (2013)

Synonyms

to sort
vsto classify
451 1.0

To put things into groups by type or order

focuses more on systematic organization rather than practical suitability
to separate
vsto classify
225 2.3

To tell how two things are different

focuses on grouping by common features rather than emphasizing differences
to categorize
vsto classify
  • US
59 3.5

To put things or people into groups by what they have in common

is the general arranging of items into groups rather than single assignment
to group
vsto classify
38 1.2

To put people and things together by type or purpose

is more about making formal categories based on shared characteristics
to sort out
vsto classify
37 2.8

To put things into groups and into the right order

is specifically about creating ordered categories based on shared traits
to catalog
vsto classify
  • US
23 3.9

To list things and write details about them

is the act of organizing into groups rather than listing only
to segregate
vsto classify
22 6.8

To separate things or parts for a special purpose

is about grouping together by shared traits rather than isolating items
to class
vsto classify
19 2.9

To put people or things into groups by shared features

is the broader organizing action beyond labeling groups only
to assort
vsto classify
17 4.2

Put things into groups that are alike

emphasizes formal grouping by shared traits rather than binary sorting
to relegate
vsto classify
4 7.3

Put something into a certain group or class

is the general arranging into groups without implying formal assignment
to bracket
vsto classify
2 5.0

To put people or things into the same group because they share a feature

is the formal organizing process rather than informal grouping

How Specific

to subdivide
8 4.2
to categorize
  • US
59 3.5
to classify
110 3.4
sort
∞ 1.3
to group
38 1.2

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

classify = class (transparent) = class + ify

Clear derivation: 'class' (category) + '-ify' = to make or place into a class.

Etymology

Classify comes from class ('group') and the ending -ify ('make'), so it literally means 'make into a group'. That's why to classify something is to sort or arrange things into groups, like animals, books, or types of information.