as in dissection
examination of a dead body especially to find out the cause of death
the autopsy revealed an advanced stage of cancer
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Recent Examples of autopsy
An autopsy has determined a 17-year-old girl found dead Friday morning near the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds was the victim of a hit-and-run traffic collision, police said.
—
Harry Harris, Mercury News, 26 Jan. 2026
Fourteen hours later, Tariq was brought to his autopsy swaddled in his blue blanket, with an identification tag fixed around his right ankle.
—Ben Taub, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026
Lawyers representing Good's family released preliminary results of an independent autopsy Wednesday showing details consistent with a report from local first responders released last week.
—Arkansas Online, 24 Jan. 2026
Foster was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death, according to police.
—Matt Hubbard, Baltimore Sun, 19 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for autopsy
Harry Harris, Mercury News, 26 Jan. 2026
Fourteen hours later, Tariq was brought to his autopsy swaddled in his blue blanket, with an identification tag fixed around his right ankle.
—Ben Taub, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026
Lawyers representing Good's family released preliminary results of an independent autopsy Wednesday showing details consistent with a report from local first responders released last week.
—Arkansas Online, 24 Jan. 2026
Foster was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death, according to police.
—Matt Hubbard, Baltimore Sun, 19 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for autopsy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for autopsy
Noun
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Chris Johnson in the hospital after an aortic dissection.—
Kerry Breen,
CBS News,
31 Jan. 2026
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Additionally, Osborne said women, in particular, are at greater risk of experiencing spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), which is a leading cause of heart attacks in women under 50 and is prevalent among women who don’t display traditional risk factors for heart disease.—
Helen Carefoot,
Flow Space,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Her complaints were extremely detailed and highlighted some genuine challenges in postmortem toxicology.—
Ben Taub,
New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2026
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Read THR‘s finale postmortems with co-creator Christian Wallace and stars Billy Bob Thornton and Ali Larter.—
Jackie Strause,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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However, only birds that receive a necropsy are recorded.—
Ryan Gillespie,
The Orlando Sentinel,
24 Jan. 2026
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The canine was transported to UConn Pathobiology and Veterinary Science in Storrs for a necropsy that was fully funded by Desmond’s Army Animal Law Advocates to give animal control a better idea of a time frame and cause of death.—
Kellie Love,
Hartford Courant,
13 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Autopsy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/autopsy. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
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