autopsy
[aw-top-see, aw-tuh p-]
- inspection and dissection of a body after death, as for determination of the cause of death; postmortem examination.
- an analysis of something after it has been done or made.
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- to perform an autopsy on.
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Origin of autopsy
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for autopsy
Contemporary Examples
They had hoped the autopsy would show Brinsley had eaten something that would point them in the right direction.
As an autopsy has yet to be completed, the official cause of death remains unknown.
An autopsy found highly toxic cyanide levels in the blood of the not-so-dearly departed.
The autopsy report is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours.
The lawyer asserted that an autopsy of Sarbandi showed how the pen knife wound was itself not fatal.
Historical Examples
When the last case died, a free case again, I performed my own autopsy.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
The lion has to assist at his autopsy,—rather hard, is n't it?
Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume I.Charles James Lever
There was nothing discovered at the autopsy to account for the death.
A Master of MysteriesL. T. Meade
Who is the physician that is going to undertake the autopsy?
The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume II (of 2)Alexandre Dumas pre
There are different ways of beginning an autopsy such as this.
The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume II (of 2)Alexandre Dumas pre
autopsy
- Also called: necropsy, postmortem examination dissection and examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death
- an eyewitness observation
- any critical analysis
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Word Origin
C17: from New Latin autopsia, from Greek: seeing with one's own eyes, from auto- + opsis sight
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for autopsy
n.
1650s, "an eye-witnessing," from Modern Latin autopsia, from Greek autopsia "a seeing with one's own eyes," from autos- "self" (see auto-) + opsis "a sight" (see eye (n.)). Sense of "dissection of a body to determine cause of death" is first recorded 1670s, probably from the same sense in French autopsie (1570s).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
autopsy
(ô′tŏp′sē)- An examination of a cadaver in order to determine the cause of death or to study pathologic changes.necropsy postmortem postmortem examination
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
autopsy
[ô′tŏp′sē]
- A medical examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death or to study pathologic changes.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.