Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Examination of a cadaver to determine or confirm the cause of death.
  • noun A critical assessment or examination after the fact.
  • transitive verb To subject to an autopsy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A seeing for one's self; personal ocular observation, inspection, or examination. Specifically
  • noun In pathology and anatomy, dissection and inspection of a dead body to discover the cause of death, or the site and character of the disease of which the person died; post-mortem examination; a post-mortem.
  • To make a post-mortem examination of; perform an autopsy on.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Personal observation or examination; seeing with one's own eyes; ocular view.
  • noun (Med.) Dissection of a dead body, for the purpose of ascertaining the cause, seat, or nature of a disease; a post-mortem examination.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A dissection performed on a cadaver to find possible cause(s) of death.
  • noun An after-the-fact examination, especially of the causes of a failure.
  • verb transitive To perform an autopsy on.
  • verb transitive To perform an after-the-fact analysis of, especially of a failure.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb perform an autopsy on a dead body; do a post-mortem
  • noun an examination and dissection of a dead body to determine cause of death or the changes produced by disease

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek autopsiā, a seeing for oneself : auto-, auto- + opsis, sight; see okw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From New Latin autopsia, from Ancient Greek αὐτοψία (autopsia, "seeing with one's own eyes").

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Examples

  • URIBE: Your honor, I would just bring up the fact that whether or not that was a condition of these, of the agreement, whether or not that's used for the term autopsy photo or refers to the autopsy photos in the report.

    CNN Transcript Jun 12, 2001 2001

  • The term autopsy is intrinsic to the resources provided and should lead to consistent conversions.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows aaronthinks 2010

  • The term autopsy, derived from Greek, essentially means to see for oneself.

    Eureka Times Standard Most Viewed 2009

  • Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham sent condolences to the Travolta family and said the autopsy is a formality the country requires in cases of sudden death to rule out foul play.

    Death certificate: Jett Travolate killed by seizure 2009

  • The word autopsy comes from the Greek “to see for oneself”; as Vesalius learned to see for himself, he could no longer force Galen’s mystical visions to fit his own.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • The word autopsy comes from the Greek “to see for oneself”; as Vesalius learned to see for himself, he could no longer force Galen’s mystical visions to fit his own.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • The word autopsy comes from the Greek “to see for oneself”; as Vesalius learned to see for himself, he could no longer force Galen’s mystical visions to fit his own.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • An autopsy is planned for later this week, with an official LAPD investigation also underway.

    Brittany Murphy: 1977 – 2009 « Screaming Blue Reviews 2009

  • They are professional and standard creating, analyzing past life, as an autopsy is to breathing.

    July 2008 2008

  • Interesting that Jordanian born Zarqawi is supposed to have an artificial leg, but NO mention in autopsy?

    Think Progress » Bush Officials Stoke International Outrage Over Guantanamo Suicides 2006

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