What does fingerprinted mean?
Fingerprinted is the past tense and past participle of the verb 'to fingerprint', meaning to take an official inked or digital impression of the unique ridge patterns on a person's fingertips. It appears almost exclusively in passive constructions — someone 'is fingerprinted' by police, immigration authorities, schools, or employers as part of identification, background checks, or criminal records. Because fingerprints are unique to each individual and permanent throughout life, being fingerprinted carries connotations of official scrutiny: it may signal routine administrative procedure, such as applying for a visa, or involvement in a criminal investigation. The word entered common usage in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when fingerprinting replaced earlier anthropometric methods of criminal identification. Today it remains firmly associated with law enforcement, border control, and security screening worldwide.
verb (past tense and past participle of 'fingerprint')Fingerprinted is the past tense and past participle of the verb 'fingerprint', meaning to take an impression of someone's fingerprints, typically for identification or record-keeping purposes.
- To have had an impression of one's fingerprints officially taken, usually by police, immigration, or other authorities, for identification purposes.
"All applicants were fingerprinted before their visas could be issued."
"Every new employee was fingerprinted as part of the security clearance process."
"He was fingerprinted and released without charge within hours."
Your fingerprints form in the womb and never change — which is why being fingerprinted has been the gold standard of identification since the 1890s.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fingerprinted
The verb derives from the noun 'fingerprint', a compound of 'finger' (from Old English 'finger') and 'print' (from Old French 'preinte', from Latin 'premere', meaning to press). The compound emerged in the late nineteenth century as forensic science adopted fingerprint identification, and the verb followed soon after. Cognate forms share the Latin root 'premere', which also gives English 'impress', 'pressure', and 'imprint'.
Related word forms
How fingerprinted is actually used
Almost always used in passive constructions ('was fingerprinted', 'got fingerprinted') since the action is performed on a person by an authority. The register is neutral; informal speech often uses 'got fingerprinted'.