Meanings
plural identity crises
- human sciencesA crisis of personal identity.
1 more example
The postponement of homosexual behavior in men who know that they are homosexual can cause psychological anxiety and retard mature ego development. The same kind of identity crisis characteristic of heterosexual people in their twenties, in which one discovers, as Erik Erikson puts it, that he is "fatally overcommitted to what he is not," is found in the repressed homosexual.
1976 February 7, Philip Gambone, “Coming Out: The Gay Identity Process”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 32, page 4
Origin
Coined by German psychologist Erik Erikson.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech krize identity
- krize identitycrisis of personal identity
Finnish identiteettikriisi
- identiteettikriisicrisis of personal identity
French crise identitaire, crise d'identité
- crise identitairecrisis of personal identity
- crise d'identitécrisis of personal identity
German Identitätskrise
- Identitätskrisecrisis of personal identity
Indonesian krisis identitas
- krisis identitascrisis of personal identity
Polish kryzys tożsamości
- kryzys tożsamościcrisis of personal identity
Swedish identitetskris
- identitetskriscrisis of personal identity
Turkish kimlik krizi
- kimlik krizicrisis of personal identity
Vietnamese khủng hoảng bản sắc, khủng hoảng danh tính
- khủng hoảng bản sắccrisis of personal identity
- khủng hoảng danh tínhcrisis of personal identity
Cite this entry
identity crisis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/identity%20crisis
“identity crisis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/identity%20crisis. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “identity crisis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/identity%20crisis.
Source: identity crisis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.