in·qui·si·tion

(ĭn′kwĭ-zĭsh′ən, ĭng′-)

1. The act of inquiring into a matter; an investigation. See Synonyms at inquiry.

2. Law An inquest.

a. Inquisition A tribunal formerly held in the Roman Catholic Church and directed at the suppression of heresy.

b. An investigation that violates the privacy or rights of individuals, especially through rigorous or harsh interrogation.

c. A rigorous or severe questioning: "Looking pained at having to endure another inquisition [from the press, the football coach] assumed his usual monotone as he parried questions" (Judy Battista).

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

in′qui·si′tion·al adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

inquisition

(ˌɪnkwɪˈzɪʃən)

1. the act of inquiring deeply or searchingly; investigation

2. a deep or searching inquiry, esp a ruthless official investigation of individuals in order to suppress revolt or root out the unorthodox

3. (Law) an official inquiry, esp one held by a jury before an officer of the Crown

4. (Law) another word for inquest²

[C14: from legal Latin inquīsītiō, from inquīrere to seek for; see inquire]

ˌinquiˈsitional adj

ˌinquiˈsitionist n

Inquisition

(ˌɪnkwɪˈzɪʃən)

(Roman Catholic Church) history a judicial institution of the Roman Catholic Church (1232–1820) founded to discover and suppress heresy. See also Spanish Inquisition

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

in•qui•si•tion

(ˌɪn kwəˈzɪʃ ən, ˌɪŋ-)

n.

1. an official investigation, esp. one of a political or religious nature, characterized by lack of regard for individual rights, prejudice on the part of the examiners, and recklessly cruel punishments.

2. any harsh, difficult, or prolonged questioning.

3. the act of inquiring.

4. an investigation, or process of inquiry.

5. a judicial or official inquiry.

6. the document embodying the result of such inquiry.

7. (cap.) Rom. Cath. Ch. a former special tribunal, engaged chiefly in combating and punishing heresy.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin inquīsītiō search, investigation, derivative of inquīsī-, variant s. of inquīrere to inquire]

in`qui•si′tion•al, adj.

Inquisition

(Holy Office) A Roman Catholic tribunal concerned with investigating and punishing heresy.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	Inquisition - a former tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church (1232-1820) created to discover and suppress heresy court, judicature, tribunal - an assembly (including one or more judges) to conduct judicial business
	2.	inquisition - a severe interrogation (often violating the rights or privacy of individuals) interrogatory, examination, interrogation - formal systematic questioning

inquisition

noun investigation, questioning, examination, inquiry, grilling (informal), quizzing, inquest, cross-examination, third degree (informal) He suffered a 40-minute inquisition in the press conference.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

inquisition

noun

A seeking of knowledge, data, or the truth about something:

inquest, inquiry, investigation, probe, research.

Translations

Inquisition

Inquisición

inquirente investigazione

инквизиция

inquisition

[ˌɪnkwɪˈzɪʃən] N → inquisición f, investigación f
the Spanish Inquisition → la Inquisición, el Santo Oficio

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Inquisition

[ˌɪŋkwɪˈzɪʃ^ən] n (RELIGION) the Inquisition → l'Inquisition f

inquisition

[ˌɪŋkwɪˈzɪʃ^ən] n (= interrogation) → interrogatoire m en règle

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

inquisition

(Hist Eccl) the Inquisition → die Inquisition

(Jur) → Untersuchung f

(fig) → Inquisition f, → Verhör nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Inquisition

[ˌɪnkwɪˈzɪʃ/ən] n (Rel) the Inquisition → l'Inquisizione f

inquisition

[ˌɪnkwɪˈzɪʃ/ən] n → inquisizione f

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The Charter of the Forest designed to lessen those evils, declares that inquisition, or view, for lawing dogs, shall be made every third year, and shall be then done by the view and testimony of lawful men, not otherwise; and they whose dogs shall be then found unlawed, shall give three shillings for mercy, and for the future no man's ox shall be taken for lawing.

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Let us suppose an inhabitant of some remote and superior region, yet unskilled in the ways of men, having read and considered the precepts of the gospel, and the example of our Saviour, to come down in search of the true church: if he would not inquire after it among the cruel, the insolent, and the oppressive; among those who are continually grasping at dominion over souls as well as bodies; among those who are employed in procuring to themselves impunity for the most enormous villainies, and studying methods of destroying their fellow-creatures, not for their crimes but their errors; if he would not expect to meet benevolence, engage in massacres, or to find mercy in a court of inquisition, he would not look for the true church in the Church of Rome.

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And the death just avoided, was of that very character which I had regarded as fabulous and frivolous in the tales respecting the Inquisition. To the victims of its tyranny, there was the choice of death with its direst physical agonies, or death with its most hideous moral horrors.

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MY first few days' experience in my new position satisfied me that Doctor Dulcifer preserved himself from betrayal by a system of surveillance worthy of the very worst days of the Holy Inquisition itself.

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The cook looked at the housemaid, the housemaid looked knowingly at the footman--the awful kitchen inquisition which sits in judgement in every house and knows everything--sat on Rebecca at that moment.

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The notion had no ground in sense; it was probably no more than a reminiscence of similar calamities in childhood, for his father's room had always been the chamber of inquisition and the scene of punishment; but it stuck so rigorously in his mind that he must instantly approach the door and prove its untruth.

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The converts of this sect are oftener driven within its hospitable gates by worldly misfortune than drawn thither by fanaticism and are received without inquisition as to their motives.

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Instead of offending my gentleman I had put him on his mettle, and for half an hour he honored me with the most exhaustive inquisition ever elicited from a medical man.

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Not the Inquisition of Seville, nor the German Vehm-gericht, nor the Secret Societies of Italy, were ever able to put a more formidable machinery in motion than that which cast a cloud over the State of Utah.

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Still, there is a certain interest which attaches to the mantel-piece: it conceals a cleverly constructed hiding-place, between the floor of the room and the ceiling of the room beneath, which was made during the last evil days of the Inquisition in Venice, and which is reported to have saved an ancestor of my gracious lord pursued by that terrible tribunal.

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As Caesar had his Brutus, every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition. Wherefore it is better to be a guest of the law, which though conducted by rules, does not meddle unduly with a gentleman's private affairs.

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It was as though he had dreamed for an infinitesimal fraction of time of some dark print of the Inquisition.

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