postmortem
- adjective
- /poʊstˈmɔrtəm/
- Specialized
- Whole brains were removed from 12 horses at postmortem examination.
- postmortem examination
Examples
-
They examined all medicolegal death cases in Finland in which pregabalin or gabapentin was found in postmortem toxicology during 2010-2011.
Academic text (2018) -
Three additional deployed dogs without radiographic changes (a Doberman, a German Shepherd, and a German Shepherd cross) were diagnosed on postmortem examination with degenerative cardiomyopathy.
Academic text (2010) -
Brain death and postmortem organ donation are closely linked.
Academic text (2018) -
This study showed both agreement and some regional differences regarding practices around brain death and postmortem organ donation.
Academic text (2018) -
There was a trickle from the left one also, and postmortem lividity was already starting in the parts of the face he could see.
Fiction book (1991) -
No control dogs had either radiographic or postmortem evidence of cardiac abnormalities.
Academic text (2010) -
One of the deployed dogs with right-sided cardiomegaly was a Doberman cross that developed cardiomyopathy, which was confirmed on postmortem examination.
Academic text (2010) -
Five randomly selected birds from the control group were also slaughtered at 5 and 10 days post-infection, but no gross lesions were seen on postmortem examination.
Academic text (2015) -
The doctor conducted a postmortem examination to determine the cause of death.
-
During the postmortem, the pathologist discovered evidence of a previous heart attack.
Synonyms
Happening after a person dies
Antonyms
Compounds
A medical check that cuts open a dead body to find the cause of death
Surface Forms
Morphology
postmortem = mortem (semi-transparent) = post + mortem
The prefix 'post-' clearly means 'after', but 'mortem' is a Latin combining form rather than a common standalone English word, so learners may only partially infer the meaning.
Etymology
Postmortem comes from the Latin parts post- 'after' and mortem 'death', the same root as mortal. So as an adjective it simply describes something that happens after a person has died.