autopsy

noun

1. A dissection performed on a cadaver to find possible cause(s) of death.

   “The autopsy revealed he had died of multiple bullet wounds.”

2. (figuratively)An after-the-fact examination, especially of the causes of a failure.

   “This lack of built-in clutter makes the system easy to comprehend. Debugging facilities are few but powerful: snapshots, tracing, and autopsy.”

   “Understanding exactly what happened and why is an essential first step to winning back the White House. ¶ In addition to the autopsy, the DNC should abandon the penchant for secrecy and embrace the principles of transparency and accountability that helped inspire and engage millions of people to participate in the 2008 Obama campaign.”

3. (rare)An eyewitness observation, the presentation of an event as witnessed.

verb

1. (transitive)To perform an autopsy on.
2. (transitive)To perform an after-the-fact analysis of, especially of a failure.

   “The user may define his own errors, and use DUMPAL to autopsy the system for him.”