inquisition
noun
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While an inquiry can be almost any search for truth, the related word inquisition suggests a long, thorough investigation that involves extensive and harsh questioning. Though the two words originally had about the same meaning, today inquisition tends to remind us of the Spanish Inquisition, an ongoing trial conducted by church-appointed inquisitors that began in the Middle Ages and sought out nonbelievers, Jews, and Muslims, thousands of whom were sentenced to torture and to burning at the stake.
Examples of inquisition in a Sentence
David French, Mercury News, 30 Sep. 2025
By the time Ono came before his second trial by inquisition, this one at the hands of the governors of the State University System, the counterassault was well and truly underway.
—Ron Cunningham, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 June 2025
Biden's physical and mental decline in office and its cover up by those around him is a legitimate scandal worthy of inquisition.
—Carlo Versano, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 May 2025
This eccentric novel—by turns a workplace comedy, a philosophical inquisition, and a smorgasbord of bodily horror—is given life by Larraquy’s electric prose and by the merciless passions of his characters.
—The Atlantic, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for inquisition
Cite this Entry
“Inquisition.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inquisition. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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