medical examiner

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noun

a physician or other person trained in medicine who is appointed by a city, county, or the like, to perform autopsies on the bodies of persons supposed to have died from unnatural causes and to investigate the cause and circumstances of such deaths.

a physician retained by an insurance company, industrial firm, or the like, to give medical examinations to its clients or employees.

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THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

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In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of medical examiner

First recorded in 1840–50

Words nearby medical examiner

medical, medical audit, medical certificate, medical dictionary, medical examination, medical examiner, medicalize, medical jurisprudence, medical marijuana, medical marker, medical tourism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use medical examiner in a sentence

She said the medical examiner had ruled out that Oakes’s death was caused by head trauma.
VCU launches review of Greek life after student dies|Justin Jouvenal, Lauren Lumpkin|March 3, 2021|Washington Post
In December, the family sued the officers, the state medical examiner, the three towns where the officers served and the two police chiefs involved in the case.
The first state to pass a law protecting police accused of misconduct may also be the first to repeal it.|Ovetta Wiggins|February 9, 2021|Washington Post
As law enforcement, medical examiners and health-care workers focused on responding to covid-19 cases, some incidents may have not been fully investigated or determined to have been shark attacks.
Sharks killed more people in 2020, but attacks remained ‘extremely low,’ Florida study says|Adriana Brasileiro|February 2, 2021|Washington Post
ProPublica reported that over the summer in Houston, medical examiners saw a spike in the number of people found dead in their homes.
Flattening the curve worked — until it didn’t|Dylan Scott|December 31, 2020|Vox

What has shocked medical examiners in Chicago is the age range — from a 57-year-old deputy police chief to a 9-year-old child.
For months, he helped his son keep suicidal thoughts at bay. Then came the pandemic.|William Wan|November 23, 2020|Washington Post
But the medical examiner reported that Brinsley had eaten nothing at all.
Exclusive: Inside a Cop-Killer’s Final Hours|Michael Daly|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
New York medical examiner Dr. Elliott Gross instead ruled that he died of heart failure.
Before Eric Garner, There Was Michael Stewart: The Tragic Story of the Real-Life Radio Raheem|Marlow Stern|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
After all, not every county medical examiner can spot CTE on microscopic slides.
Will the NCAA Let Ohio State’s Kosta Karageorge Die in Vain?|Robert Silverman|December 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The remains have also been sent to the chief medical examiner in Richmond for official forensic identification.
On U.VA Campus, Grief Mixes With Relief After Discovery of Body|Eric Leimkuhler|October 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When the body of Johnson was exhumed, the medical examiner was acutely chagrined when six .22 caliber rounds were removed from it.
The Myth of the Central Park Five|Edward Conlon|October 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He rather liked the Medical Examiner, but he did not at all admire detective Weston or his ways.
The Come Back|Carolyn Wells
Give me an application blank and round up a medical examiner.
The Best Policy|Elliott Flower
In an hour the medical examiner would come; all would in turn be examined on oath.
The Carleton Case|Ellery H. Clark
Sid Parkes was small and slight, so small that he was almost rejected by the medical examiner.
Trooper Bluegum at the Dardanelles|Oliver Hogue
Approval of the Medical Examiner must be secured before registration is permitted.
College Teaching|Paul Klapper

British Dictionary definitions for medical examiner

medical examiner

noun

mainly US a medical expert, usually a physician, employed by a state or local government to determine the cause of sudden death in cases of suspected violence, suicide, etcCompare coroner

a physician who carries out medical examinations

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012