as in autopsy
examination of a dead body especially to find out the cause of death
a coroner performed the postmortem examination with painstaking thoroughness
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Recent Examples of postmortem examination
Detective Superintendent Mike Brown of Suffolk Police said during a coroner's inquest in Ipswich on Friday, Oct. 4, that the 59-year-old was determined to have drowned following a postmortem examination, the BBC and The Guardian report.
—
Abigail Adams, People.com, 4 Oct. 2024
The victims, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, were killed on the evening of Aug. 29 in Rafah’s Tal Al Sultan neighborhood, the Israel Defense Forces said, citing postmortem examinations of the bodies.
—Raf Sanchez, NBC News, 10 Sep. 2024
Smith was pronounced dead and taken to the Marin County coroner’s office for a postmortem examination, officials said.
—Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2024
This position is unlike families of other late football stars — including Frank Gifford, Mike Webster and Ken Stabler — who consented to postmortem examinations of their brains to confirm CTE.
—Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for postmortem examination
Abigail Adams, People.com, 4 Oct. 2024
The victims, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, were killed on the evening of Aug. 29 in Rafah’s Tal Al Sultan neighborhood, the Israel Defense Forces said, citing postmortem examinations of the bodies.
—Raf Sanchez, NBC News, 10 Sep. 2024
Smith was pronounced dead and taken to the Marin County coroner’s office for a postmortem examination, officials said.
—Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2024
This position is unlike families of other late football stars — including Frank Gifford, Mike Webster and Ken Stabler — who consented to postmortem examinations of their brains to confirm CTE.
—Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for postmortem examination
Recent Examples of Synonyms for postmortem examination
autopsy
Noun
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Eutsey is being held without bail at the Fayette County Prison as the investigation continues, and an autopsy is pending to determine the cause and manner of death, per the outlets.—
Christina Coulter,
PEOPLE,
5 Sep. 2025
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The death of a 63-year-old Plainfield man whose body was pulled from Lake Michigan near DuSable Harbor early Saturday was ruled a homicide after a Sunday autopsy, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.—
Adriana Pérez,
Chicago Tribune,
1 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Postmortem examination.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/postmortem%20examination. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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