fingerprint

Plural: fingerprints

Noun

• a print made by an impression of the ridges in the skin of a finger; often used for biometric identification in criminal investigations
• a generic term for any identifying characteristic
  • "that tax bill had the senator's fingerprints all over it"
• a smudge made by a (dirty) finger
• The natural pattern of ridges on the tips of human fingers, unique to each individual.
• The patterns left on surfaces where uncovered fingertips have touched, especially as used to identify the person who touched the surface.
• A unique combination of features that serves as an identification of something.
• A unique identification for a public key in asymmetric cryptography.
• A trace that gives evidence of someone's involvement.

Verb

• take an impression of a person's fingerprints
• To take somebody's fingerprints.
• To identify something uniquely by a combination of measurements.

Examples

• acoustic fingerprint
• The jail staff fingerprints its inmates routinely

Synonyms

fingermark

Related Words

biometrics, dactylography, hash