to proudly identify as
- phrasal verb
- He proudly identifies as a scientist, eager to share his discoveries with the world.
Examples
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I will close by noting that Menachem Begin, OBM, never one to whitewash East European (including Polish) anti-Semitism, seems to have always carried himself and proudly identified as a Polish gentleman.
Blog text (31) -
She proudly identifies as a member of the local community theater troupe.
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Evans proudly identifies as evangelical, but not everyone will allow her that label.
Blog text (7) -
They proudly identify as supporters of environmental conservation efforts.
Synonyms
To say you belong to a group or have a certain identity
How Open
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'identify' (to regard or state who one is) combined with the marker 'as' (introducing the category) and 'proudly' (manner) yields the straightforward sense of stating affiliation with pride. This follows a common verb + preposition pattern found in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the parts can infer the overall meaning.
Etymology
Proudly identify as paints a simple picture: someone standing tall and saying 'I am X' in public, with proudly showing no shame and identify meaning to say who they are. So, it came to mean 'to openly and confidently state one's group or role'.