identikitn.adj.
/ʌɪˈdɛntᵻkɪt/, U.S. /aɪˈdɛn(t)əˌkɪt/ A. n.
1. A system for assembling a composite picture of a person whom the police wish to interview, from features described by witnesses; a picture assembled in this way.A proprietary name in the United States.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > personal identification > [noun] > identification parade > description of person wanted by police
signalment1779
identikit1959
profile1964
1959 Corpus Christi (Texas) Times 18 June 11/4 The system is based on a device called identi-kit in which the suspect's image emerges by use of overlaying transparent films.
1961 Observer 12 Mar. 5/7 About forty police forces in this country are now testing an American device called an ‘Identi-Kit’, which is used to translate witnesses' descriptions of a person into visual terms.
1961 Spectator 1 Sept. 277 The identi-kit must depend..on the memory of the witness being questioned.
1971 ‘J. Ashford’ Bent Copper vi. 43 He'd called in the D.C. from H.Q. who specialised in Identikit and..the D.C. had built up several faces.
2001 S. S. Rakover & B. Cahlon Face Recognition vi. 170 With the help of a police expert (who uses techniques for reconstructing the suspect's face, for example, the Identikit or the Photofit) the witness creates a facial composite, a drawing or picture, which is similar, in the witness's opinion, to the target face.
2. A composite picture; a set of stock ideas or images.
ΚΠ
1969 Times 13 Mar. 13/1 If one were looking at that time for an Identikit of an England side to defend the World Cup in Mexico in 1970 one would scarcely have recognized the person we were looking for.
1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Mar. 255/1 The identikit of this regime [in Greece] is predictably unpleasant.
2000 Out May 46/1 Gay dramatists had no choice but to make their characters out of an identi-kit of certain traits: ‘Real Life’ was not ours for the asking.
B. adj. (attributive).
1. Relating to the identikit; formed by, or as if by, an identikit.
ΚΠ
1962 Times 19 Apr. 13/2 The identi-kit method of political detection is not really very plausible here.
1967 Spectator 29 Sept. 359/1 One at least managed to build up an identikit description of the soul: ‘A most wonderful, delicate, small thing’.
1969 G. Greene Trav. with my Aunt ii. iii. 245 I don't resemble whatever identikit portrait you have of me.
1994 M. Gee Crime Story (1996) ii. 35 The police will make an identikit picture.
2. Having typical features and few unique ones; formulaic or standardized.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > uniformity > [adjective] > characterless
unrelieved1673
unfeatured1693
neutral1755
samely1799
unindividuala1834
featureless1839
clueless1862
unbrightened1873
uninterspersed1887
attributeless1894
faceless1936
identikit1963
fast food1977
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > adaptation or adjustment > [adjective] > making conform > normalized or standardized
standardized1879
normalized1880
normated1893
identikit1963
1963 Listener 19 Sept. 416/2 At their worst the genres of contemporary fiction provide no more than a kind of ‘identikit’ novel, prefabricated from ready-made elements.
1981 R. Boyson in R. Dale et al. Educ. & State II. iv. xx. 321 Before that period there were ‘identikit’ grammar schools and secondary modern schools with dependable standards.
2007 M. Rothwell Drunk in Charge of Foreign Lang. 152 Identikit housing estates with characterless identikit houses appear to be the Spaniards [sic] favoured type of housing development.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1959