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:
He admitted that they didn’t turn over the fingerprint evidence and that it would have been helpful to Brooks’ case, according to the memo.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
Tracing its source poses particular difficulties for two reasons: an incubation period of up to two weeks before symptoms first appear, and lack of a genetic fingerprint, unlike, say, E. coli.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
An EEG captures patterns of electrical activity and oscillations across brain networks, creating what can be thought of as an electrical fingerprint of the brain.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
Like, I can see someone’s been pointing at it, there’s a nice fingerprint mark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
In the shadowshaper portrait, OP Vernon still had a black fingerprint over his face.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
Items belonging to some of the victims were recovered from the car, and Mihai's fingerprints were found on the wine glasses left behind in the men's homes.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The system relies on facial recognition and fingerprints instead of the age-old practice of getting your passport stamped at a booth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
The telescope "detected spectral lines," the observatory said, what it called "chemical fingerprints" of "sodium and lithium gas in the impact plume lasting for 5-10 minutes after impact."
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
“His fingerprints are everywhere in this industry. His impact extends far beyond the performances we see on screen — it’s woven into the very fabric of Hollywood.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Neither left fingerprints on Langleys decision to hire black women mathematicians.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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
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
This time, 5,000 men were fingerprinted in the space of a month - and Headley was caught.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2025
When Zach stepped toward us, I wondered if he’d been handcuffed, fingerprinted, photographed, pushed around.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
As a high-schooler Busby performed locally; a music career beckoned, but based on his academic performance an FBI recruiter offered him a position in the bureau’s fingerprinting lab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 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
VPNs mask your IP address and encrypt your traffic, but websites still can collect data on you through cookies, browser fingerprinting and account logins.
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.
