forensic

adjective fo·ren·sic \ fə-ˈren(t)-sik , -ˈren-zik \

|Updated on: 17 Jul 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of forensic

1 : belonging to, used in, or suitable to courts of judicature or to public discussion and debate

a lawyer's forensic skills

2 : argumentative, rhetorical

forensic eloquence

3 : relating to or dealing with the application of scientific knowledge to legal problems

forensic medicine

forensic science

forensic pathologist

forensic experts

—

forensically

play \fə-ˈren(t)-si-k(ə-)lē, -ˈren-zi-\ adverb

See forensic defined for English-language learners

See forensic defined for kids

Recent Examples of forensic from the Web

After Zhang left, the company began overviewing his time there ranging from physical searches to forensic examinations of his devices.

— david grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Ex-Apple Employee Charged With Stealing Self-Driving Tech," 11 July 2018
The actress, who played forensic specialist Abby Sciuto, left the show last year after 15 seasons.

— temi adebowale, Country Living, "CBS Announced Its Fall TV Lineup, Including 'Blue Bloods' and 'Murphy Brown'," 10 July 2018
Leonpacher performed the forensic examination of Rickman's cellphone.

— erin moriarty, CBS News, "Was alleged rape and shooting death investigation influenced by reality TV cameras?," 30 June 2018
Chris Bergner said that the cause of death will be determined by an extensive forensic examination of the boy’s injuries and condition.

— richard winton, latimes.com, "Authorities had previously visited home where boy was found dead under suspicious circumstances," 22 June 2018
Their court demeanor was a far cry from the bravado of the communications a forensic examination of Viner's iPhone found after the news of the death in Wichita.

— roxana hegemen, Cincinnati.com, "Local gamer pleads not guilty in 'swatting' death," 14 June 2018
Their court demeanor was a far cry from the bravado of the communications a forensic examination of Viner’s iPhone found after the news of the death in Wichita.

— Washington Post, "2 gamers plead not guilty in Kansas ‘swatting’ death," 13 June 2018
Their court demeanor was a far cry from the bravado of the communications a forensic examination of Viner's iPhone found after the news of the death in Wichita.

— roxana hegeman, chicagotribune.com, "2 gamers plead not guilty in 'swatting' case that led police to shoot Kansas man," 13 June 2018
But they weren't put through for forensic examination until April 2018 when Detective Nick Vega was assigned to the case, according to the department.

— michelle hunter, NOLA.com, "Arrested Terrytown man took lewd photos of young girls: JPSO," 4 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'forensic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The noun forensic, meaning “an argumentative exercise” derives from the adjective forensic, whose earliest meaning in English is “belonging to, used in, or suitable to courts or to public discussion and debate.” The English word was derived from a Latin word forensic meaning “of the market place or form, public,” which in turn comes from the Latin word forum, meaning “market place, forum.”

Origin and Etymology of forensic

Latin forensis public, forensic, from forum forum

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1659

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

forensic

noun

Definition of forensic

1 : an argumentative exercise

2 forensics plural in form but singular or plural in construction : the art or study of argumentative discourse

3 forensics plural in form but singular or plural in construction : the application of scientific knowledge to legal problems; especially : scientific analysis of physical evidence (as from a crime scene)

Recent Examples of forensic from the Web

And whether the syrup was actually codeine was also unclear — Miami-Dade police never took the liquid to the forensics lab for testing.

— david ovalle, miamiherald, "'We got bills to pay, sweetie.' Cops forced to return stripper's $19,934 in cash," 6 July 2018
Their Houston documentaries complement each other in a way that establishes an unhappy genre of pop forensics — Whitney: SVU.

— wesley morris, New York Times, "Review: ‘Whitney,’ a Pop Music Tragedy, Is Sad, Strange and Dismaying," 5 July 2018
The Louisiana State University's forensics lab completed the reconstruction of the victim, according to a press release from the coroner's office.

— jose r. gonzalez, Houston Chronicle, "Louisiana authorities release facial reconstruction of severed head with similarities to HPD case," 27 June 2018
Rani's daughter's case is just one of thousands backed up in India's forensics labs.

— huizhong wu, CNN, "Sexual violence victims can wait years for India's overtaxed crime labs," 6 June 2018
PNW’s College of Technology offers a hands-on experience exposing students to cybersecurity fundamentals, robot game design, cyber forensics, ethical hacking and principles key to cybersecurity awareness.

— douglas clark, Post-Tribune, "Guest column: Summer camps abound at Purdue University Northwest," 31 May 2018
The cost of forensics work is rising, said William Daugherty, a partner with the privacy and data protection group at law firm Baker & Hostetler LLP.

— kate fazzini, WSJ, "Deluge of Attacks Prompts Telecom Firm to Overhaul Cyber Investigations Team," 10 May 2018
Facebook's limited forensics around false news in Mexico show how the company's aspiration of keeping elections honest globally is still out of reach for the social network, despite the prominent role its service has come to play in many societies.

— chicagotribune.com, "Facebook's battle against fake news reaches Mexico ahead of July 1 election," 23 June 2018
The company’s latest work, showcased this month at the CVPR computer vision conference, demonstrates how digital forensics done by humans can be automated by machines in much less time.

— james vincent, The Verge, "Adobe is using machine learning to make it easier to spot Photoshopped images," 22 June 2018

Origin and Etymology of forensic

see ¹forensic

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1814

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Chemical Engineering Terms

alkali, cation, decant, hygroscopic, isotope, oxidize, slurry, solute, viscous

FORENSIC Defined for English Language Learners

forensic

adjective

Definition of forensic for English Language Learners

: relating to the use of scientific knowledge or methods in solving crimes
: relating to, used in, or suitable to a court of law

Medical Dictionary

forensic

adjective fo·ren·sic \ fə-ˈren(t)-sik , -ˈren-zik \

medical Definition of forensic

: relating to or dealing with the application of scientific knowledge to legal problems especially in regard to criminal evidence

a forensic pathologist

forensic experts

… a forensic technique of DNA analysis allows for the determination of whether a subject with a specific genetic profile has contributed to aggregate genomic data.
—Kathy L. Hudson, The New England Journal of Medicine, 15 Sept. 2011