fingerprint
Americannoun
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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)
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:
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the first mid-infrared chemical fingerprint of an interstellar object, providing new insights into the composition of comet 3I/ATLAS as it traveled away from the Sun.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2026
Every humpback has a pattern on the underside of their tail -- or fluke -- that is unique "like a human fingerprint", Castro said.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
The proposed sexual assault measure would require ride-share companies to let riders know if the person picking them up has a history of sexual misconduct and conduct yearly fingerprint and background checks for drivers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
Trials of biometric fingerprint and facial recognition will begin within six months, he said, with a full roll-out expected before the end of this parliament.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 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
Interestingly, the T cells activated by cDC1 and cDC2 each displayed slightly different molecular "fingerprints," suggesting they may perform complementary roles.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
The UN's climate chief Simon Stiell said the heatwave -- made worse by buildings and infrastructure unsuited to such temperatures -- "has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it".
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
The police found a plastic bottle half-filled with water covered in fingerprints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
But perhaps the biggest sticking point is FIFA’s demand for workers’ sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers and fingerprints, to process background checks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
“There will be no fingerprints on it save those of Mrs. Hubbard.”
From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie
As a teenager, she applied to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, paid her fee and was fingerprinted for a background check.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 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
From Sunday, non-EU travellers entering Europe's Schengen open-borders zone will gradually be photographed and fingerprinted at border crossings, as the European Union rolls out its much-delayed automated border checks.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2025
This time, 5,000 men were fingerprinted in the space of a month - and Headley was caught.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2025
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
Because the countries had no official diplomatic ties, it took months of negotiations to arrange that game, and the Iranians required special fingerprinting and security exemptions at the airport.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026
You can still be tracked through cookies, browser fingerprinting, account logins and other methods.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2026
To investigate the stones' journey, Curtin scientists used advanced mineral "fingerprinting" methods to study microscopic grains found in rivers near Salisbury Plain in southern England.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 27, 2026
Mahmood said there is "always concern" when a new technology is adopted, adding this previously applied to the use of fingerprinting and DNA samples.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 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
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.
