post mortem

See also: postmortem, post-mortem, and post mórtem

English

Alternative forms

• postmortem, post-mortem

Etymology

From Latin post (“afterwards”) + mortem, from mors (“death”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpəʊs(t)ˈmɔːtəm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpoʊs(t)ˈmɔɹtəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

post mortem (not comparable)

1. After death.

   The hospice's standard procedure for post mortem room cleaning looks very thorough.

2. Having been inflicted or having occurred after death.

   We shouldn't let these post mortem injuries distract us while looking for the cause of death.

   The post mortem timeline is incomplete.

Synonyms

• posthumous
• post obitum

Antonyms

• antemortem
• anthumous
• predeath
• prehumous
• premortem

Coordinate terms

• perimortem

Adverb

post mortem (not comparable)

1. Occurring after death.

   The injuries were found to have been caused post mortem.

Synonyms

• posthumously
• post obitum

Antonyms

• antemortem
• anthumously
• prehumously
• premortem

Coordinate terms

• perimortem

Translations

occurring after death — see also posthumously

• Armenian: հետմահու (hy) (hetmahu)
• Bulgarian: посмъртен (posmǎrten)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: post mortem (nl)
• Esperanto: postmorta
• Finnish: kuolemanjälkeinen (fi)
• Greek: μετά θάνατον (el) (metá thánaton)
• Hindi: मरणोत्तर (marṇottar)
• Malay: pascanilai
• Persian: پس از مرگ (pas az marg)
• Polish: pośmiertnie (pl), post mortem (pl)
• Russian: посме́ртно (ru) (posmértno), по́сле сме́рти (pósle smérti, literally “after death”)
• Ukrainian: посме́ртно (posmértno), пі́сля сме́рті (píslja smérti, literally “after death”)

Noun

post mortem (plural post mortems)

1. An investigation of a corpse to determine the cause of death.

   Synonyms: autopsy, PM

   • 2025 February 19, Mike Lewis, “Tragedy at Moorgate”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 59, about the Moorgate tube crash:

     Nor had the post mortem on Newson's body revealed any illness or other physical condition that might have prevented him from applying the brake, although after four days in the oven-like heat of the wreckage, the body was so badly decomposed as to make any reliable post mortem results unlikely.

2. (figuratively, management) Any investigation after the conclusion of an activity, particularly when said activity produces an unwanted outcome.

   Synonyms: debriefing, AAR

   • 2014 September 3, Thomas A. Limoncelli, Strata R. Chalup, Christina J. Hogan, The Practice of Cloud System Administration (Designing and Operating Large Distributed Systems; 2)‎^[1], Addison-Wesley, page 300:

     Each user-visible outage or SLA violation should be followed by a postmortem and conclude with implementation of the recommendations in the postmortem report.

   • 2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 44:

     After a serious delay there is often a post mortem on what happened, but this is usually in-house.

   • 2022 April 20, Ross Buchanan, “Why You Sometimes Feel Sick or Vomit After Smoking Weed”, in Vice‎^[2]:

     Grinspoon finishes with some sage advice on the best way to avoid greening out: "Keep the doses low and know yourself. If it happens to you, try to do a postmortem on what happened, like: 'Was there alcohol involved? Was there nicotine involved?' Was I overtired? Did I take five puffs when I usually take two puffs?'"

3. (British, university slang, obsolete) At Cambridge, a second examination for those who were "plucked" or failed in the first.

Coordinate terms

• antemortem
• perimortem
• premortem

Derived terms

• inquisition post mortem
• post mortem auctoris

Translations

investigation of a corpse to determine the cause of death; an autopsy

• Armenian: դիահերձում (hy) (diaherjum)
• Bulgarian: аутопсия (bg) f (autopsija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 屍檢 / 尸检 (zh) (shījiǎn), 驗屍 / 验尸 (zh) (yànshī), 屍體解剖 / 尸体解剖 (shītǐ jiěpōu)

• Dutch: post mortem (nl) n
• Finnish: ruumiinavaus (fi), kuolinsyyn selvitys
• Greek: νεκροψία (el) f (nekropsía), ιατροδικαστική έκθεση νεκροτομής (iatrodikastikí ékthesi nekrotomís)
• Hindi: शवपरीक्षा f (śavparīkṣā), पोस्टमार्टम (hi) m (posṭmārṭam)
• Italian: autopsia (it) f
• Japanese: 検視 (ja) (けんし, kenshi), 解剖 (ja) (かいぼう, kaibō)
• Persian: کالبدگشایی (fa) (kâlbod-gošâyi)
• Russian: вскры́тие (ru) n (vskrýtije), аутопси́я (ru) f (autopsíja)
• Swahili: uchunguzi wa maiti
• Swedish: obduktion (sv) c

investigation after something considered unsuccessful

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: jälkiselvittely, jälkipuinti, jälkipyykki (fi)
• Japanese: 反省会 (hanseikai)
• Malay: pascanilai
• Persian: گذشته‌سنجی (gozašte-sanji), پس‌کاوی (pas-kâvi)

References

• (second examination): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

See also

• have the drains up
• post mortem auctoris

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin post mortem (literally “after death”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔst ˈmɔr.tem/
• Rhymes: -ɔrtem
• Hyphenation: pòst‧mòr‧tem

Adjective

post mortem (invariable)

1. post mortem

   Synonym: postumo

Adverb

post mortem

1. post mortem

   Synonym: postumamente

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin post mortem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔst ˈmɔr.tɛm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Syllabification: post mor‧tem

Adverb

post mortem (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic, literary) posthumously, post mortem

   Synonym: pośmiertnie

Further reading

• post mortem in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• post mortem in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /posˈmoɾtem/ [pozˈmoɾ.t̪ẽm]
• Rhymes: -oɾtem

Adjective

post mortem (invariable)

1. post mortem

Further reading

• “post mortem”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10