autopsy
A dissection performed on a cadaver to find possible cause(s) of death.
Example
“The autopsy revealed he had died of multiple bullet wounds.”
Other meanings
An after-the-fact examination, especially of the causes of a failure.
An eyewitness observation, the presentation of an event as witnessed.
Related words
- unautopsied
- autopsic
- autopsist
- postautopsy
- preautopsy
- reautopsy
- virtopsy
- psychological autopsy
- social autopsy
Word history
From Ancient Greek "αὐτοψῐ́ᾱ" (seeing with one's own eyes).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “autopsy” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.