fingerprint
Americannoun
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fingerprints
plural
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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)
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fingerprints,
present (3rd person singular)
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fingerprinted,
past participle, past
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fingerprinting
present participle
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:
Metals mixed into the ink, whether intentionally or accidentally, could make that chemical fingerprint even more useful.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Jurors were also informed that Walters’ partial fingerprint was found on the white Spencer’s bag holding the cache of stolen firearms that Oxford turned over to police.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Police had fingerprint evidence linking a high-profile councillor to a poison pen letter up to 12 months before he went on to target another politician in a "persistent and wicked" hate mail campaign.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Roberts sent the envelope that contained the threatening letter for forensic analysis, and a fingerprint returned a match to White, according to the criminal complaint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
It was signed by Tristran, and beside his signature was a fingerprint, which glittered and glimmered and shone when the shadows touched it as if it had been dusted with tiny stars.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
He said these statistical traces are akin to "fingerprints that a criminal leaves at a crime scene."
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
Travelers can enroll online with proper documents and set up an in person appointment to take fingerprints and a photo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Antidepressants, beta-blockers, proton pump inhibitors, and benzodiazepines were also associated with distinctive microbial "fingerprints."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Turtle is less hopeful about finding fingerprints of life on Titan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Then I copied my own fingerprints and retinal patterns into a completely new identity profile that I’d created, under the name Bryce Lynch.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Sardar Khan, 41, was sitting in a large tent at Omari camp near the crossing, where people get a return certificate and are fingerprinted.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Asylum seekers are fingerprinted on arrival in the UK and checked against UK police databases, but these would not necessarily show a conviction from another country.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
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
He was brought to the Amtrak counter and fingerprinted.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Most states need to send cyclospora specimens to the CDC for genetic fingerprinting because their own public-health laboratories can’t do it, Williams said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
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
The study, titled 'Detrital zircon-apatite fingerprinting challenges glacial transport of Stonehenge's megaliths', was published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 27, 2026
They don’t prevent you from accidentally sharing personal information online, protect you from phishing links or stop you from being tracked through cookies and browser fingerprinting.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2025
It was a sort of fingerprinting before fingerprinting; it was more like bodyprinting.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
