Dictionary

deidentify en · VERB

Pronunciation

• dē'-ī-dĕntʹ-ĭf-ī
• /ˌdiː.aɪˈdɛnt.ɪf.aɪ/

Etymology

From de- + identify.

Meanings

1. To remove personal identifying information (PII) from data, sometimes preserving the original identification data separately; to anonymize data (though it may be possible to reidentify via data aggregation and correlation).
   • A fundamental problem with efforts to protect individuals from identification, Barth-Jones said, is that as more is done to deidentify or anonymize the data, the less useful the information is for statistical analyses. 2016 May 29, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine, Principles and Obstacles for Sharing Data from Environmental Health Research: Workshop Summary, National Academies Press, →ISBN, page 52:
   • So the first step in anonymizing microdata is to “deidentify” (anonymize) the microdata by removing identifiers such as name of business and address (Willenbourg and de Waal 2001; Ramanayake and Zayatz 2010), but this can still leave[…] 2013 July 1, Ger Snijkers, Gustav Haraldsen, Jacqui Jones, Diane Willimack, Designing and Conducting Business Surveys, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:
   • You can anonymize or deidentify e-PHI by removing all of these identifiers. The modified data set is not e-PHI and is not subject to HIPAA regulations. As discussed in the HIE section earlier, this In the code injection attack, […] John T. Finnell, Clinical Informatics Study Guide: Text and Review (Springer Nature), page 153
2. To cease or forgo identifying (with).
   • […] will be perceived by others in terms of the imputed qualities of the role, thus making it more difficult for the person to deidentify with that role. 2000, Blake Ashforth, Role Transitions in Organizational Life: An Identity-based Perspective, Routledge, →ISBN, page 104:
   • Second-boms are significantly more likely to deidentify with firstborns than with third-boms although they resemble both in age,[…] 2014, M. E. Lamb, B. Sutton-Smith, Brian Sutton-Smith, Michael E. Lamb, Sibling Relationships: their Nature and Significance Across the Lifespan, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 133:
   • (1956) additionally proposed a social-adjustment function, which reflects attitudes that help to identify with those we like and deidentify with those we [dislike]. 2018, Kay Deaux, Mark Snyder, The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 448:
   • Differentiation in families requires that siblings be able to identify with some characteristics of their brothers and sisters, and to deidentify with others. 2014, John V Caffaro, John V. Caffaro, Allison Conn Caffaro, Sibling Abuse Trauma: Assessment and Intervention Strategies for Children, Families, and Adults, Routledge, →ISBN:
   • Conversely, there is a tendency to deidentify with low-status social groups, but only when group boundaries are permeable […] 2016, Jas M. Sullivan, William E. Cross Jr., Meaning-Making, Internalized Racism, and African American Identity, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 278:

Forms

Antonyms

reidentify · identify

Deriveds

de-identification · deidentification

Relateds

unidentified · misidentify

Translations (2)

de sich deidentifizieren (remove personal identifying information) · de anonymisieren (anonymize data)