autopsy

/'ɔ:təpsi/

Thân thiện

A pathologist performs an autopsy in the examination room.

Definition

1. Noun:

   • A medical examination of a dead body to discover the cause of death or the nature of a disease: An "autopsy" is a detailed surgical procedure performed by a pathologist to examine the organs and tissues of a deceased person.
   • A thorough analysis or assessment of something that has failed or ended: In a figurative sense, an "autopsy" can refer to a detailed post-mortem examination of an event, project, or situation to understand why it failed.

2. Verb:

   • To perform an autopsy on a dead body: The action of conducting a post-mortem examination.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • The coroner ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.
  • After the project's failure, the team conducted an autopsy to identify the key mistakes.

• Verb:

  • The pathologist will autopsy the body tomorrow morning.
  • The remains were autopsied at the county medical examiner's office.

Advanced Usage

• "To perform an autopsy": This is the most common collocation for the verb form, meaning to carry out the examination.

  • The forensic team will perform an autopsy to gather evidence.

• Figurative Use: Used metaphorically to describe analyzing the failure of non-physical things.

  • The board demanded an autopsy of the company's failed marketing campaign.

Variants and Related Words

• Post-mortem (noun/adjective): A synonym, especially in British English, for an autopsy. It can also function as an adjective (e.g., a post-mortem examination).
• Necropsy (noun): A term specifically used for the autopsy of an animal.
• Autopsist (noun): A rare term for a person who performs autopsies.

Synonyms

• Post-mortem examination: The formal synonym.
• Necropsy: (For animals).
• Dissection: (More general term for cutting apart for examination).

Related Phrases

• Autopsy report: The official document detailing the findings of the autopsy.
  • The detective waited for the autopsy report.
• Forensic autopsy: An autopsy performed for legal or investigative purposes.
  • A forensic autopsy was crucial to the murder investigation.

Related Idioms

• Perform a post-mortem (on something): To analyze something after it has ended, especially to find reasons for failure. This idiom uses the synonym but carries the same figurative meaning as "autopsy."
  • We need to perform a post-mortem on last quarter's sales figures.

Học thuật

Noun

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

Verb

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

Từ đồng nghĩa

• necropsy
• postmortem
• post-mortem
• PM
• postmortem examination
• post-mortem examination