English · Word Candidate

autopsy

/ˈɔː.tɒp.si/

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: autopsies · autopsying · autopsied

Sense 1

Meaning · English

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

Noun

The autopsy revealed he had died of multiple bullet wounds.

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01 via kaikki.org).

Meaning · English

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

Noun

This lack of built-in clutter makes the system easy to comprehend. Debugging facilities are few but powerful: snapshots, tracing, and autopsy.

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01 via kaikki.org).

Meaning · English

To perform an autopsy on.

Verb

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01 via kaikki.org).

Meaning · English

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

Verb

The user may define his own errors, and use DUMPAL to autopsy the system for him.

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01 via kaikki.org).

What does “autopsy” mean?

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

Is “autopsy” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.