medical examiner

noun

: a usually appointed public officer whose duties are similar to those of a coroner but who is typically required to have specific medical training (as in pathology) and is qualified to conduct medical examinations and autopsies

Examples of medical examiner in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The city’s medical examiner will determine the cause of death. —Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 2 May 2026

An elderly man was killed Thursday in an early morning house fire on the city’s Northwest Side, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. —Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2026

Police have said a medical examiner determined Stewart's cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma. —ABC News, 1 May 2026

The 26-year-old faces charges, including domestic violence simple battery, domestic violence false imprisonment, tampering with evidence, failure to report a death to the medical examiner’s office or law enforcement and unlawfully holding or moving a human dead body in unapproved conditions. —Brittany Miller, FOXNews.com, 1 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for medical examiner

• interlaminar
• laminar

Medical Definition

medical examiner

noun

1

: a usually appointed public officer with duties similar to those of a coroner but who is required to have specific medical training (as in pathology) and is qualified to conduct medical examinations and autopsies

2

: a physician employed to make medical examinations (as of applicants for military service or of claimants of workers' compensation)

3

: a physician appointed to examine and license candidates for the practice of medicine in a political jurisdiction (as a state)

Legal Definition

medical examiner

noun

med·​i·​cal examiner

: a public officer who determines the necessity of and conducts autopsies