racial

racial, adj

1. of or relating to the social construct of race.
   racial diversity;
   racial stereotypes.

2. (no longer in technical use) of, relating to, or characteristic of one race or the races of humankind.

Other Word Forms

• racially adverb
• antiracial adjective
• nonracial adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of racial¹

First recorded in 1860–65; race ² + -ial

from — Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words. (2025d). In Dictionary.com. 

~ ~ 

identity

identity noun

1. the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions.
   The identity of the fingerprints on the gun with those on file provided evidence that he was the killer.

2. the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another.
   He began to doubt his own identity.

3. condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person or thing.
   a case of mistaken identity;
   a male gender identity;
   immigrants with strong ethnic identities.

4. the state or fact of being the same one as described.

5. the sense of self, providing sameness and continuity in personality over time and sometimes disturbed in mental illnesses, as schizophrenia.
   Synonyms: uniqueness, distinctiveness, personality, individuality

6. exact likeness in nature or qualities.
   an identity of interests.

7. an instance or point of sameness or likeness.
   to mistake resemblances for identities.

8. Logic. an assertion that two terms refer to the same thing.

9. Mathematics. 

   • an equation that is valid for all values of its variables.

   • Also called unit element,. Also called unity. Also called identity element,. an element in a set such that the element operating on any other element of the set leaves the second element unchanged.

   • the property of a function or map such that each element is mapped into itself.

   • the function or map itself.

10. Australian Informal. an interesting, famous, or eccentric resident, usually of long standing in a community.

Other Word Forms

• nonidentity noun

Word History and Origins

~ ~

racial identity

Racial Identity

an individual’s sense of being defined, in part, by membership in a particular racial group. The strength of this sense depends on the extent to which an individual has processed and internalized the psychological, sociopolitical, cultural, and other contextual factors related to membership in the group. Given the socially constructed nature of racial categories, racial identifications can change over time and in different contexts. For example, a mixed-race person might identify as mixed race in one context and Black or White in another. See also ethnic identity.

from — APA Dictionary of Psychology. (n.d.). https://dictionary.apa.org/racial-identity

~ ~ ~ 

sentence examples: racial identity

However, they may exhibit precursors to racial identity.
From the Cambridge English Corpus

He neither asked for nor received preferential treatment due to his racial identity.
From the Cambridge English Corpus

Specifically, he writes about the ‘ creation of racial identity in parish registers ‘ (p. 51).
From the Cambridge English Corpus

This affirmation leads him to radically revise the concept of citizenship and makes his racial identity a source of cultural strength and critical authority.
From the Cambridge English Corpus

It is the intersection of assertions of femininity with cultural, class and racial identity which would have enriched this chapter beyond the discussion of dress.
From the Cambridge English Corpus

Racial identity, academic achievement, and the psychological well-being of economically disadvantaged adolescents.
From the Cambridge English Corpus

His investigation focuses on the ways in which linguistic deployments by these young people enact ethnic and racial identity.
From the Cambridge English Corpus

But simultaneously, how those communications are received figures importantly into questions of racial identity.
From the Cambridge English Corpus

The main brake on this impetus proves to be legal desegregation, and a changing politics of racial identity.
From the Cambridge English Corpus