Standard Lemma guide

autopsy

noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɔː.tɒp.si/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈɔ.tɑp.si/
  • General-American, cot-caught-merger: /ˈɑ.tɑp.si/
  • US, dated: /ɔˈtɑp.si/
  • South-Asia: /ə.ʈɔːp.si/
  • CMU ARPABET: AO1 T AA2 P S IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A dissection performed on a cadaver to find possible cause(s) of death.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The autopsy revealed he had died of multiple bullet wounds.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: necropsy, necrotomy, postmortem

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An after-the-fact examination, especially of the causes of a failure.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: postmortem

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An eyewitness observation, the presentation of an event as witnessed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To perform an autopsy on.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To perform an after-the-fact analysis of, especially of a failure.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

an examination and dissection of a dead body to determine cause of death or the changes produced by disease

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: necropsy, postmortem, post-mortem, PM, postmortem examination, post-mortem examination

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: examination, scrutiny

7

verb

Meaning 7

perform an autopsy on a dead body; do a post-mortem

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: examine, see

History

Etymology

From New Latin autopsia, from Ancient Greek αὐτοψῐ́ᾱ (autopsĭ́ā, “seeing with one's own eyes”). By surface analysis, auto- + -opsy.

Across languages

Translations

101 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: autopsi — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Arabic: تَشْرِيح (tašrīḥ) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Armenian: դիահերձում (diaherjum) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Azerbaijani: yarılma — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Belarusian: ускрыццё (uskryccjó) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Bulgarian: ауто́псия (autópsija) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Catalan: autòpsia — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Chinese Mandarin: 屍檢 /尸检 (shījiǎn) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Chinese Mandarin: 驗屍 /验尸 (yànshī) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Chinese Mandarin: 屍體解剖 /尸体解剖 (shītǐ jiěpōu) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Cornish: hwithrans wosa mernans — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Czech: pitva — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Danish: autopsi — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Danish: obduktion — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Dutch: autopsie — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Esperanto: nekropsio — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Esperanto: obdukcio — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Esperanto: aŭtopsio — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Estonian: lahang — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Estonian: lahkamine — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Faroese: líkskurður — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Finnish: ruumiinavaus — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Finnish: obduktio — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • French: autopsie — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Georgian: გვამის გაკვეთა (gvamis gaḳveta) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Georgian: აუტოფსია (auṭopsia) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Georgian: ავტოფსია (avṭopsia) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • German: Obduktion — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • German: Autopsie — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • German: Sektion — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • German: Leichenöffnung — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Greek: νεκροτομή (nekrotomí) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Haitian Creole: otopsi — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Hiligaynon: awtopsiya — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Hindi: शवपरीक्षा (śavaprīkṣā) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Hungarian: boncolás — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Icelandic: krufning — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Icelandic: líkskoðun — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Ido: autopsio — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Indonesian: autopsi — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Indonesian: bedah mayat — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Japanese: 検死 (kenshi) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Japanese: 解剖 (kaibō) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Kazakh: өлікті жару (ölıktı jaru) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Korean: 검시 (geomsi) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Korean: 부검 (bugeom) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Central Kurdish: تەشریح (teşrîḧ) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Kyrgyz: кайра союуу (kayra soyuuu) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Latvian: autopsija — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Latvian: sekcija — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Lithuanian: skrodimas — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Lithuanian: autopsija — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Macedonian: аутопсија (autopsija) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Macedonian: обдукција (obdukcija) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Malay: autopsi — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Māori: arohaenga — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Norwegian Bokmål: obduksjon — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: obduksjon — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Persian: کالبدگشایی (kâlbod-gošâyi) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Polish: sekcja — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Polish: autopsja — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Portuguese: autópsia — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Romanian: autopsie — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Russian: вскры́тие (vskrýtije) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Russian: аутопси́я (autopsíja) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Serbo-Croatian: ауто̀псија — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Serbo-Croatian: обду̀кција — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Serbo-Croatian: ра́зудба — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Serbo-Croatian: autòpsija — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Serbo-Croatian: obdùkcija — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Serbo-Croatian: rázudba — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Slovak: pitva — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Slovene: avtopsija — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Slovene: obdukcija — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Spanish: autopsia — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Swahili: uchunguzi wa maiti — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Swedish: obduktion — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Tagalog: surimbangkay — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Turkish: otopsi — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Ukrainian: аутопсі́я (autopsíja) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Ukrainian: ро́зтин (róztyn) — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Uzbek: otopsi — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Welsh: awtopsi — a dissection performed on a cadaver
  • Finnish: silminnäkijän havainto — eyewitness observation
  • German: Augenzeugenbericht — eyewitness observation
  • German: Schilderung eines Augenzeugen — eyewitness observation
  • Polish: autopsja — eyewitness observation
  • Dutch: (een) autopsie uitvoeren — perform an autopsy
  • Finnish: tehdä ruumiinavaus — perform an autopsy
  • German: Autopsie vornehmen — perform an autopsy
  • German: autopsieren — perform an autopsy
  • Greek: διενεργώ νεκροτομή (dienergó nekrotomí) — perform an autopsy
  • Greek: διενεργώ νεκροψία (dienergó nekropsía) — perform an autopsy
  • Hungarian: boncol — perform an autopsy
  • Ido: autopsiar — perform an autopsy
  • Norwegian: obdusere — perform an autopsy
  • Portuguese: autopsiar — perform an autopsy
  • Russian: вскрыва́ть (vskryvátʹ) — perform an autopsy
  • Russian: вскрыть (vskrytʹ) — perform an autopsy
  • Swedish: obducera — perform an autopsy
  • Yiddish: פּאַלמעסן (palmesn) — perform an autopsy