AUTOPSY Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

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View synonyms for autopsy

autopsy

[ aw-top-see, aw-tuhp- ]

noun

, plural au·top·sies.
  1. inspection and dissection of a body after death, as for determination of the cause of death; postmortem examination.
  2. an analysis of something after it has been done or made.


verb (used with object)

, au·top·sied, au·top·sy·ing.
  1. to perform an autopsy on.

autopsy

/ ˈɔːtəpsɪ; ɔːˈtɒp- /

noun

  1. Also callednecropsypostmortem examination dissection and examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death
  2. an eyewitness observation
  3. any critical analysis


autopsy

/ ôtŏp′sē /

  1. A medical examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death or to study pathologic changes.


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Other Words From

  • autop·sist noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of autopsy1

1645–55; (< Middle French autopsie ) < Greek autopsía a seeing with one's own eyes, equivalent to aut- aut- + óps ( is ) -opsis + -ia -y 3

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Word History and Origins

Origin of autopsy1

C17: from New Latin autopsia, from Greek: seeing with one's own eyes, from auto- + opsis sight

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Compare Meanings

How does autopsy compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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Example Sentences

In a statement Thursday, authorities said his body had been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which will perform an autopsy.

At Grand Canyon National Park, 22 food-attracted but malnourished deer were found to have up to five pounds of plastic and foil food packaging obstructing their intestines after autopsies.

Some autopsies have found inflammation in the heart’s blood vessels instead of muscle cells, which are where other infections tend to hit.

An autopsy concluded Hernandez wasn’t physically abused before her death.

I was going to open up kind of the skin of the city, just like a doctor doing an autopsy opens up the skin of a body, and try to diagnose the organs that broke down.

They had hoped the autopsy would show Brinsley had eaten something that would point them in the right direction.

As an autopsy has yet to be completed, the official cause of death remains unknown.

An autopsy found highly toxic cyanide levels in the blood of the not-so-dearly departed.

The autopsy report is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours.

Both were looking, of course, at the same evidence, from the same autopsy.

Thus, to trace it, the autopsy doctors would have to find, separate or segregate a billionth bit of the mass under observation.

The hypodermic needle is a weapon of death which has caused autopsy physicians trouble since its invention.

At the autopsy it was proved conclusively that the bullet inside the Prince was of German origin.

I used my Security papers to get the body for special autopsy instead of the usual immediate cremation.

Why does the public abhor and obstruct the physician in his study of anatomy, dissection, and autopsy on the human body?

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