biometrics

American  

[bahy-uh-me-triks] / ˌbaɪ əˈmɛ trɪks /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. Biology, Statistics. biostatistics.

2. biometry.

3. the process by which a person's unique physical and other traits are detected and recorded by an electronic device or system as a means of confirming identity.

   Scanning of the human iris is a reliable form of biometrics.

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biometrics Cultural  

1. The measuring and analysis of such physical attributes as facial features and voice or retinal scans. This technology can be used to define an individual's unique identity, often for security purposes.

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Software is available that can match faces of individuals videotaped on the street to the picture of a suspected criminal or terrorist in a database. The use of biometrics is likely to increase in the future as security concerns become more of a priority for both governments and corporations following the September 11 attacks (2001).

Other Word Forms

• biometric adjective
• biometrical adjective
• biometrically adverb

Etymology

Origin of biometrics

First recorded in 1900–05; biometr(y) + -ics

Example Sentences

A few other states, including California, have consumer-data privacy statutes that apply to biometrics.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

There’s a cool factor to the whole concept of biometrics, of buying some product with your palm or face.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

How much would it change your life and approach to health if you had instant access to your quantified biometrics?

From Slate • Mar. 1, 2026

Despite Smirnoff’s talk of ending all crime, the statement Ring shared said that Search Party “does not process human biometrics or track people.”

From Salon • Feb. 18, 2026

The task of experimental zoölogy is to work more extensively and deeply upon inheritance and variation, combining the methods and results of cellular biology, biometrics, and experimental breeding.

From The Doctrine of Evolution Its Basis and Its Scope by Crampton, Henry Edward