forensic

• forensick (obsolete)

From Latin forēnsis (“of the forum, public”) +‎ -ic, from forum (“forum, marketplace”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /fəˈɹɛn.zɪk/, /fəˈɹɛn.sɪk/

• Audio (US); /fəˈɹɛn.zɪk/:

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• Audio (US); /fəˈɹɛn.sɪk/:

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• Audio (General Australian):

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forensic (not comparable)

1. Relating to the use of science and technology in the investigation and establishment of facts or evidence in a court of law.
   • 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     In this account of events, the cards were stacked against Clemons from the beginning. His appeal lawyers have argued that he was physically beaten into making a confession, the jury was wrongfully selected and misdirected, and his conviction largely achieved on individual testimony with no supporting forensic evidence presented.

   • 1996 June 8, Bill Clinton, Weekly Presidential radio Address:

     Fire investigators […] and forensic chemists are combing through fire sites [the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing], interviewing witnesses, and following leads.

2. (dated) Relating to, or appropriate for, courts of law; suitable or adapted to legal argumentation.
   • 1851, Edward Shepherd Creasy, “Chapter V”, in The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World:

     Varus trusted implicitly […] to the interest which they affected to take in the forensic eloquence of their conquerors.

   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 164:

     Mr. Philips’ incredulous sniff was a triumph of forensic skill.

3. (informal) Precise, thorough, or highly meticulous, by analogy with a scientific legal investigation
   • A forensic account of history
   • With forensic precision
   • 1885, Isaac N. Arnold, “Chapter VIII”, in The Life of Abraham Lincoln:

     It [the judiciary] had been the forum before which the highest forensic discussions had been held, […]

4. (archaic) Relating to, or used in, debate or argument.

• (Related or appropriate for a court of law): legal
• (Related or used in debate and argumentation): rhetorical

• forensal
• forensical
• forensive

• conifers, fir-cones, forinsec, fornices, inforces