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postmortem Definition

post·mor·tem (pōst′môr′təm)

adjective

  1. happening, done, or made after death
  2. having to do with a post-mortem examination

Etymology: L, lit., after death

noun

  1. postmortem examination
  2. a detailed examination or evaluation of some event just ended
Also written post-mortem
postmortem Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • do: A doctor can only arrange do a hospital postmortem with written consent from the next of kin.
  • perform: Curiously, while the Bulgarian government had agreed to allow the German doctors to perform a postmortem, the king's own family had refused.
  • conduct: It was immediately after the latter had conducted the second postmortem, on 19 May, that the body was released for cremation.

Adjective modifier

  • second: A second postmortem revealed that his injuries had not been caused by the weights or another object hitting him in the water.

Modifies a noun

  • examination: A recommended protocol for postmortem examination of a sudden infant death has been drawn up on the basis of these findings.
  • report: A clinico-pathological correlation should be included in all postmortem reports.
  • study: Very long chain fatty acids in brain appear unaffected in postmortem studies.
  • analysis: Postmortem analysis also occurs when individual students explain the process by which they solved their homework problems.
  • finding: Loss of medical audit, whereby antemortem diagnoses are checked against the postmortem findings.
  • rate: The hospital postmortem rate of 8 % was unacceptably low.

Noun used with modifier

  • hospital: A doctor can only arrange do a hospital postmortem with written consent from the next of kin.
  • election: At an election postmortem this week, a number of senior party figures expressed concern at the nature of this yearâs campaign.