identical

Etymology

From identic + -al.

adj

1. (not comparable) Bearing full likeness by having precisely the same set of characteristics; indistinguishable.
   By this means as many absolutely identical plates can be produced as may be required, and being hardened they will yield a very large number of prints without any appreciable deterioration. 1911, “Bank-Notes”, in Encyclopædia Britannica
   For example, assume that 10000 identical chairs were produced through incurring the following costs:... 1972, James H. Rossell, William Wayne Frasure, Managerial Accounting
   The zygote soon divides into two identical cells. 1988, John Byrum, Cells
2. (not comparable) Not different or other; not another or others; not different as regards self; selfsame; numerically identical.
   The best of the joke, too, is, that the very coal-merchant who is loudest in his complaints against the person who defrauded him, is the identical man who sat in the centre of the very front row of the pit last night and laughed the most boisterously at this very same thing,--and not so well done either. 1837, Charles Dickens, The Pantomime of Life
   These men were grandsons of a certain Guntram, who, according to some authorities, is identical with a Count Guntram who flourished during the reign of the emperor Otto the Great, and whose ancestry can be traced back to the time of the Merovingian kings. 1911, Arthur William Holland, “Habsburg”, in Encyclopædia Britannica
   Nor could I myself look upon this man without some emotion, for he seemed to be the identical person who had picked up the ragged tunic in the lonely wood, and, as a matter of fact, he was! 1922, Petronius, Satyricon, translation of original by W. C. Firebaugh
3. (not comparable, biology) Of twins, sharing the same genetic code.
4. (not comparable, mathematics) Exactly equivalent.
5. (comparable, rare) Approximating or approaching exact equivalence.
   The terms of Article 8th are still more identical. 1788, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, The Federalist, section XLI
6. For more quotations using this term, see Citations:identical.

noun

1. (usually pluralized, chiefly philosophy) Something which has exactly the same properties as something else.
2. An identical twin.
   Fraternal twins are boy-girl pairs as often as of the same sex, while identicals are necessarily of the same sex, […] 2014, Robert S. Woodworth, Donald G. Marquis, Psychology (Psychology Revivals): A Study of Mental Life, page 171
3. (poetry) A rhyme on the same syllable, such as "leave" and "believe".
   The strictest construction of the rule requires complete and unvarying repetition of end-words, but some license is granted in the use of identicals. 1992, Clarence Hugh Holman, William Harmon, A Handbook to Literature, page 439