a short ad in a newspaper or magazine (usually in small print) and appearing along with other ads of the same type
"After seeing your classified for the vintage bicycle, I called the number listed to arrange a pickup."
A classified advertisement in a newspaper or magazine.
"She spent her entire lunch break searching through the back pages of the paper for a classified ad about that vintage camera."
In plain English: A classified item is something marked as secret that only certain people are allowed to see.
"The classifieds in the newspaper featured several job openings for local businesses."
Usage: Use "classified" as a noun to refer specifically to a short advertisement found in the classified section of a newspaper or magazine. Do not use this term for any other type of listing or general announcement.
simple past tense and past participle of classify
"The museum decided to classified all unverified artifacts as temporary exhibits until further testing could be completed."
In plain English: To classify something is to sort it into specific groups based on shared characteristics.
"The government classified the new research project as top secret."
Usage: Do not use "classified" to mean the simple past of "classify"; instead, say that you "classified" documents into categories or simply state the action occurred without using a non-standard form if referring to general sorting. Reserve "classified" as an adjective for information that is secret or restricted from public view.
arranged into classes
"The librarian carefully classified each new book according to its subject matter before placing it on the correct shelf."
official classification of information or documents; withheld from general circulation
"thousands of classified documents have now been declassified"
Sorted into classes or categories
"The librarian carefully classified every new book according to its genre and subject matter before adding it to the shelves."
In plain English: Classified means something is secret and only certain people are allowed to see it.
"The classified documents were kept in a secure room for safety."
Usage: Use "classified" to describe items sorted into specific groups based on their characteristics, such as goods classified by weight or passengers classified by ticket type. Do not use it for information that is secret or restricted from the public, which requires the adjective "secret" or the noun phrase "classified information."
The word classified comes from the verb classify, which entered English via Latin and means to arrange items into categories. It was formed by adding the past tense suffix -ed to indicate that something has already been sorted or categorized.