autopsy

American  

[aw-top-see, aw-tuhp-] / ˈɔ tɒp si, ˈɔ təp- /

noun

autopsies plural

1. inspection and dissection of a body after death, as for determination of the cause of death; postmortem examination.

2. an analysis of something after it has been done or made.

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verb (used with object)

autopsied, autopsying

1. to perform an autopsy on.

autopsy British  

/ ɔːˈtɒp-, ˈɔːtəpsɪ /

noun

1. Also called: necropsy.   postmortem examination.  dissection and examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death

2. an eyewitness observation

3. any critical analysis

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autopsy Scientific  

/ ô′tŏp′sē /

1. A medical examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death or to study pathologic changes.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• autopsist
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• autopsies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of autopsy

1645–55; (< Middle French autopsie ) < Greek autopsía a seeing with one's own eyes, equivalent to aut- aut- + óps ( is ) -opsis + -ia -y ³

Compare meaning

How does autopsy compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• necropsy vs. autopsy

Explanation

An autopsy is the dissection of a dead human body to figure out the cause of death. If you watch crime shows on TV, you've probably seen hundreds of 'em. The word autopsy comes from the Greek, meaning "to see with one's own eyes." Many cultures thought it was sacrilegious to mar the human body, because the dead person would need it in the afterlife (you don't want to be hanging out for eternity with your pals while your intestines are flapping around your ankles). Autopsy is used interchangeably with the term post-mortem, Latin for "after-death."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

autopsy autopsies autopsied autopsying

Ms. Borgman doesn’t—and likely wouldn’t—make use of the recently released, gruesomely detailed autopsy reports on the killings, documentation that was probably unavailable during production anyway.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Controversies such as a 2002 autopsy performed in London -- on camera and before an audience —- further fuelled his notoriety.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

"An investigation to determine the cause of death was opened on Monday evening following the discovery," the office said, adding that an autopsy will be carried out.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

An autopsy report on an Arizona man who died in a crash noted a large shard in his neck that had a DTN serial number inscribed on it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

He posed a few inquiries with anger to Dr. Trefusis, demanding to be told of who conceived of that grim—I write it—that grim autopsy.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Advocates and industry officials alike say the CSB, though understaffed and lacking enforcement power, has been a crucial watchdog doing autopsies of catastrophes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

The Tasmanian government has apologised for a decades-old scandal in which body parts taken from autopsies were secretly kept - and in some cases put on display - without the consent of families.

From BBC ● May 19, 2026

In a smaller group of participants who died during the study and underwent autopsies, those with higher enrichment showed stronger memory and thinking abilities and slower cognitive decline before death.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 15, 2026

Authorities without ties to the federal government should investigate ICE deaths and conduct autopsies, said Angélica César, a Human Rights Watch official monitoring ICE deaths in Texas.

From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2026

All I knew about autopsies was what I had seen on reruns of “Quincy,” but somehow it never occurred to me that my information might be inaccurate because it came from a TV show.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Identified tentatively as John or Jane Does, the bodies will be transported to the medical examiner’s offices near downtown Los Angeles to be autopsied, Ukpo said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2025

Since July 2021, Dr Fortun has autopsied the remains of more than 90 victims, and discovered multiple inconsistencies.

From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2024

Dr. Anne Shepler, a forensic pathologist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center who autopsied Brandon’s body, told the Winston-Salem Journal that he died from breathing smoke and fumes.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 16, 2023

These waterfowl are among the world's most plastic-contaminated species, according to a previous study by some of the same authors reporting that 90 percent of autopsied flesh-footed shearwaters had ingested plastic.

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2023

Griffith autopsied the mice and found that the rough bacteria had changed: they had acquired the smooth coat—the virulence-determining factor—merely by contact with the debris from the dead bacteria.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

University of Chicago pediatric neurologist Dr. Peter Huttenlocher has chronicled this extraordinary epoch in brain development by autopsying the brains of infants and young children who have died unexpectedly.

From Time Magazine Archive

Dr. Henry C. Sweany of Chicago, after autopsying 700 patients whose life-long histories he knew, was convinced that in about half of the adults who die of tuberculosis, the childhood infection flared up.

From Time Magazine Archive

Related Words

• postmortem