identity crisis
nounDefinition of identity crisis
1
: personal psychosocial conflict especially in adolescence that involves confusion about one's social role and often a sense of loss of continuity to one's personality
2
: a state of confusion in an institution or organization regarding its nature or direction
Examples of identity crisis in a Sentence
He is suffering from an identity crisis.
Recent Examples on the Web
Offensively, Stanford has a bit of an identity crisis. — Jake Curtis, SFChronicle.com, "Stanford set at QB, but there are plenty of uncertainties elsewhere," 30 Aug. 2019 At the outset, TVG suffered a bit of an identity crisis. — Tod Leonard, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Horse racing’s TVG talent marvels at reaching 20th birthday," 9 Aug. 2019 A decade of falling sales, brutal layoffs, 150 store closures, six chief executives, and a $1 billion loss on its Nook e-reader had left Barnes & Noble in the throes of an identity crisis. — Sarah Todd, Quartz, "Barnes & Noble’s fate rests in the hands of a British indie bookstore owner," 21 July 2019 Wednesday’s debate was expected to further highlight the identity crisis within the Democratic Party. — Abigail Abrams, Time, "Second Democratic Debate Highlights: The Biggest Moments From Night 2 in Detroit," 1 Aug. 2019 Drugs, faddish 1980s’ production aesthetics, the mystifying inclusion of inferior songs, and a protracted recording process during which a frustrated Petty pulverized his hand melded together to create a record with a deep identity crisis. — Michael Washburn, Longreads, "Tom Petty’s Problematic Album Southern Accents," 9 July 2019 Republicans in this state have had an identity crisis. — Jon Caldara, The Denver Post, "Caldara: Republican pigeons for Polis could betray TABOR and give the governor a special session win," 5 July 2019 In this exclusive clip, one cast member in particular begins to have an identity crisis that will be further explored throughout this season. — Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, "The Real World clip explores a roommate's crisis of faith with important LGBTQ conversation," 26 June 2019 Everyone seemed to be suffering from personal dilemmas, having to do with identity crises or free-floating angst about the state of the world (let’s just say this family weren’t Donald Trump voters). — oregonlive.com, "What TV and movies say about Oregon: We’ve got sex on the brain, weirdos, and tons of supernatural creatures," 5 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'identity crisis.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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