fingerprint
Americannoun
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fingerprints
plural
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an impression of the markings of the inner surface of the last joint of the thumb or other finger.
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such an impression made with ink for purposes of identification.
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any unique or distinctive pattern that presents unambiguous evidence of a specific person, substance, disease, etc.
verb (used with object)
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fingerprints,
present (3rd person singular)
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fingerprinted,
past participle, past
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fingerprinting
present participle
noun
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an impression of the pattern of ridges on the palmar surface of the end joint of each finger and thumb
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any identifying characteristic
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biochem the pattern of fragments obtained when a protein is digested by a proteolytic enzyme, usually observed following two-dimensional separation by chromatography and electrophoresis
verb
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(tr) to take an inked impression of the fingerprints of (a person)
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to take a sample of (a person's) DNA
Discover More
Fingerprinting is used extensively in criminal investigation, but it is also used as a means of identification by many organizations.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fingerprintsimple
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fingerprintssimple
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have fingerprintedperfect
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has fingerprintedperfect
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am fingerprintingprogressive
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are fingerprintingprogressive
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is fingerprintingprogressive
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have been fingerprintingperfect progressive
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has been fingerprintingperfect progressive
Past
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fingerprintedsimple
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had fingerprintedperfect
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was fingerprintingprogressive
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were fingerprintingprogressive
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had been fingerprintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fingerprint
Explanation
The impression or mark that your finger makes on a surface is a fingerprint. And the one-of-a-kind pattern of raised whorls and lines on your fingertip? That's also a fingerprint. The earliest attempts to identify people using the prints their fingers made were in the 1820s, and by 1834 the word fingerprint came into use. To fingerprint someone is to press their finger into a pad of ink and then onto paper; after an arrest, the resulting fingerprints are put on file. The pattern on a person's fingertip is nearly unique, distinct, and won't change during their lifetime, making it a useful way to confirm someone's identity.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Shulaker said he took a different approach, building miniaturized sensors that capture the overall aroma fingerprint of a sample.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Metals mixed into the ink, whether intentionally or accidentally, could make that chemical fingerprint even more useful.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Connors' DNA was found on an airbag and his fingerprint on a can of Red Bull.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Jurors were also informed that Walters’ partial fingerprint was found on the white Spencer’s bag holding the cache of stolen firearms that Oxford turned over to police.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
I heard the police had brought in a psychic, a fingerprint expert, a special team of bloodhounds trained at Dannemora.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
He said these statistical traces are akin to "fingerprints that a criminal leaves at a crime scene."
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
A decade after it was acquired by the now-defunct Hudson’s Bay, the fingerprints of women entrepreneurs with the name “Gilt” on their résumés are still all over New York’s technology sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
According to the National Park Service, enough remains were recovered to use DNA, dental records and fingerprints to identify all 40 victims aboard United Airlines flight 93, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Turtle is less hopeful about finding fingerprints of life on Titan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
There was no picture of Melissa, or fingerprints, or note or memento, just a signed court document.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
I wasn’t fingerprinted at the booth and still don’t understand why.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Sardar Khan, 41, was sitting in a large tent at Omari camp near the crossing, where people get a return certificate and are fingerprinted.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Because Cynthia’s white Fiero had been released to Gonzalez before it could be properly fingerprinted, police said it wasn’t useful to the case either.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
The King's brother has been arrested, taken from his home on the King's estate at Sandringham, photographed and fingerprinted.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
Our right to be in England had to be double and triple confirmed, with sheaves of paperwork and fingerprinted identification cards in addition to the new kind of passports we’d been issued.
From "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff
The application was submitted, and Ortiz Jara was completing a fingerprinting appointment for the application when he was detained in May.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026
Molecular fingerprinting revealed compounds associated with pine trees, showing that every sample was dominated by heated coniferous resin or coniferous tar, also called pitch.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
Most states need to send cyclospora specimens to the CDC for genetic fingerprinting because their own public-health laboratories can’t do it, Williams said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
You can still be tracked through cookies, browser fingerprinting, account logins and other methods.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2026
But Bertillonage was already being displaced by a more efficient method of identification that was revolutionizing the world of scientific detection: fingerprinting.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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