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inquisition

UK/ˌɪŋkwɪˈzɪʃən/US/ˌɪŋkwɪˈzɪʃən/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,037 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: inquisitions

An inquisition is a harsh and searching questioning. Face an inquisition, a full inquisition.

The word carries the shadow of the Spanish Inquisition, which is why it sounds so severe. To call a set of questions an inquisition is a complaint about the manner rather than the subject.

Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury · Public domain

Definitions of inquisition

  1. 1nouninquisitionA harsh and searching questioning.B2+

    “The interview turned into an inquisition about a form he had never seen.”

inquisition is a questioning.

Where it comes from

Latin inquisitio comes from inquirere, to inquire; the sense of persecution came from the church courts of that name.

  1. Latin

    inquisitio

  2. Old French

    inquisicion

  3. English, today

    inquisition

From Old French inquisicion, from Latin inquisitio, from inquirere. The sense implying persecution is influenced by the name of the Spanish Inquisition, which is a cardinal exemplar of government inquisitions that give inquisitions a bad name.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

inquisition in the wild

  • Other banned groups investigated by medieval inquisitions, which primarily took place in France and Italy, include the Spiritual Franciscans, the Hussites, and the Beguines.

    Inquisition

  • The scope of the inquisitions grew significantly in response to the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation.

    Inquisition

  • The Medieval Inquisition was a series of inquisitions (Catholic Church bodies charged with suppressing heresy) from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition and later the Papal Inquisition.

    Medieval Inquisition

  • There were multiple national inquisitions with different approaches and targets.

    Inquisitor

  • The inquisition was established in 1560, briefly stopped from 1774 to 1778, and was reconvened and continued until it was finally abolished in 1812.

    Goa Inquisition

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.