biopsy
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Examination of tissues or liquids from the living body to determine the existence or cause of a disease.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
byahpseeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbaɪɑpsi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Examination of tissues or liquids from the living body to determine the existence or cause of a disease
The removal and examination of a sample of tissue, cells, or bodily fluid from a living body for diagnostic purposes.
verb
To take a sample (a biopsy) for pathological examination.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Examination of tissues or liquids from the living body to determine the existence or cause of a disease
Used this way, biopsy is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It turns up most in medicine or healthcare contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use biopsy
- “The doctor performed a biopsy to test the tissue for any abnormal cells.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A prenatal test to detect birth defects at an early stage of pregnancy.
Biopsy of deep tissue that is obtained through a hollow needle.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.