autopsy
Americannoun
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inspection and dissection of a body after death, as for determination of the cause of death; postmortem examination.
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an analysis of something after it has been done or made.
verb (used with object)
noun
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Also called: necropsy. postmortem examination. dissection and examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death
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an eyewitness observation
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any critical analysis
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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:
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."
Vocabulary lists containing autopsy
To Thine Own Self Be True: Auto
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Into the Wild
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Common Senses: Op, Ops, Opt ("Sight")
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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:
Doctors typically begin by examining the whole brain at autopsy or tissue removed during neurosurgery.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
He added that he has ordered an independent autopsy to be carried out.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 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
According to an autopsy report issued by Montour County, Dickey was diagnosed with “exercise collapse associated with sickle cell trait,” rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
This is a rapid sampling of tissue, done close to the moment of death instead of a full autopsy.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
However, officials said they could not establish a definitive toll until autopsies had been completed and the bodies recovered from the fire had been formally identified,.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 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
The pathologist added that some of the bodies appeared to have originated from hospitals and mortuaries but that would be further determined after autopsies.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 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
Two of them made a number of visits but spent more time performing autopsies on dead bodies than ministering to the sick.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
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
The bill will not effect how bodies are processed when involved in a criminal case, such as when a body must be autopsied.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
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
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
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
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
