noun

autopsy

AW-top-see

noun

A medical examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death.

"The coroner ordered an autopsy to confirm how the victim died."

"The autopsy revealed traces of poison in the victim's blood."

A detailed review of something after it has gone wrong, to figure out what caused the failure.

"The team held a post-mortem autopsy on the failed product launch."

How to Use Autopsy

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA close examination after death (or after a failure) to work out exactly what happened.

Common pairings

perform an autopsy order an autopsy autopsy report

autopsied past tense, autopsies plural, autopsies singular

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The coroner ordered an _____ to confirm how the victim died.

From New Latin autopsia, from Greek autopsía, "seeing with one's own eyes" — from autós ("self") and the root behind "-opsy" ("seeing").

Topsy biopsy