Word
autopsy
Phoneticsau·top·sy
US/ˈɔˌtɑpsi/
UK/ˈɔːtɒpsˌi/
Definitions
01medical examination of a body
n. a medical examination of a dead body to find out why the person died.
n. a surgical procedure performed on a cadaver to determine the cause and manner of death.
“The coroner ordered an autopsy to find out if the man died of natural causes.”
“The preliminary autopsy report indicated that the victim had suffered a massive cardiac event, though toxicology results were still pending.”
Technical
Usage
Often used with the verbs 'perform', 'conduct', or 'order'.
Synonyms
03to examine a body
v. to perform a medical examination on a dead body.
v. to perform a post-mortem examination on a corpse. Transitive, taking the body or deceased person as the object.
“The medical examiner autopsied the body early the next morning.”
“The pathologist refused to release the remains until the state had autopsied the victim in accordance with criminal procedure.”
Technical · Formal
Real-World Examples
“The Greenville County Coroner's Office said crews treated a woman in "cardiac arrest" and her autopsy showed "no signs of trauma".” “An independent autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family said the teen’s cause of death was inconclusive.” Etymology
From New Latin autopsia, from Ancient Greek αὐτοψῐ́ᾱ (autopsĭ́ā, “seeing with one's own eyes”). By surface analysis, auto- + -opsy.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/autopsy