Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of inquiring into a matter; an investigation. synonym: inquiry.
  • noun Law An inquest.
  • noun A tribunal formerly held in the Roman Catholic Church and directed at the suppression of heresy.
  • noun An investigation that violates the privacy or rights of individuals, especially through rigorous or harsh interrogation.
  • noun A rigorous or severe questioning.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To subject to inquisition or inquiry; investigate.
  • noun The act of inquiring; close search or examination; investigation; inquiry.
  • noun In law: Inquiry by a jury impaneled by the sheriff, a coroner, or a board of commissioners, to ascertain facts necessary for judicial or legal purposes other than the trial of an action.
  • noun The document embodying the result of such inquiry.
  • noun [capitalized] In the Roman Catholic Church, an ecclesiastical court, officially styled the Holy Office, for the suppression of heresy by the detection and punishment of heretics and by other means.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To make inquisition concerning; to inquire into.
  • noun The act of inquiring; inquiry; search; examination; inspection; investigation.
  • noun Judicial inquiry; official examination; inquest.
  • noun The finding of a jury, especially such a finding under a writ of inquiry.
  • noun (R. C. Ch.) A court or tribunal for the examination and punishment of heretics, fully established by Pope Gregory IX. in 1235. Its operations were chiefly confined to Spain, Portugal, and their dependencies, and a part of Italy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun an investigation or inquiry into the truth of some matter
  • noun an inquest
  • noun a questioning
  • verb obsolete To make inquisition concerning; to inquire into.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a severe interrogation (often violating the rights or privacy of individuals)
  • noun a former tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church (1232-1820) created to discover and suppress heresy

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English inquisicioun, from Old French inquisicion, from Latin inquīsītiō, inquīsītiōn-, from inquīsītus, past participle of inquīrere, to inquire; see inquire.]

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Examples

  • Nothing quite says medieval the way the word 'inquisition' does.

    News 2012

  • Nothing quite says 'medieval' the way the word 'inquisition' does.

    News 2012

  • It was the forecast to each man of what each man might expect in inquisition hall.

    Chapter 3 2010

  • This Wall Street inquisition is just political theater.

    Wall Street reform odyssey begins in Senate 2010

  • Whether or not Mr. Levant may possess by ideology or by virtue of his religious or ethnic lineage, a certain bias which would present a kind of imbalance in impartial argument, it cannot be said that Mr. Levant did not possess the freedom of expression to publish the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and the undue expenses he incurred from that earlier inquisition is the real crime.

    2008 June 10 « Unambiguously Ambidextrous 2008

  • Whether or not Mr. Levant may possess by ideology or by virtue of his religious or ethnic lineage, a certain bias which would present a kind of imbalance in impartial argument, it cannot be said that Mr. Levant did not possess the freedom of expression to publish the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and the undue expenses he incurred from that earlier inquisition is the real crime.

    Hate Crimes And The Steyn Inquisition « Unambiguously Ambidextrous 2008

  • It was the forecast to each man of what each man might expect in inquisition hall.

    Chapter 3 1915

  • So I got a couple of paragraphs written, a passable but over priced lunch was consumed but I didn’t want to linger for the next round of inquisition from the lonely woman.

    not writing Another Outspoken Female 2009

  • So I got a couple of paragraphs written, a passable but over priced lunch was consumed but I didn’t want to linger for the next round of inquisition from the lonely woman.

    Archive 2009-06-01 Another Outspoken Female 2009

  • The open flames recall the inquisition he didn't live through, and the sweet, dripping, falling-off-the-bone meat reminds us of why we adhere to the Catholic faith and not the religion of his Moorish oppressors: it doesn't ban bacon!

    Jilly Gagnon: Extend that St. Patrick's Day Piety! 2010

Comments

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  • "I had endured through watches of the dark

    The abashless inquisition of each star."

    Francis Thompson (1859-1907) The Poppy

    September 25, 2009

  • The Inquisiiiition, let's begin

    The Inquisiiiition, look out sin!

    We're on a miiiiiission...

    To convert the Jews...

    Hey Torquemada, whattaya say?!

    —Mel Brooks, "History of the World, Part 1"

    September 25, 2009