Word.ws English Dictionary

inquisition

Syllables: in·qui·si·tion/ˌɪŋkwɪˈzɪʃən/

inquisition noun: an inquiry or investigation into the truth of some matter.

Noun

inquisition (countable and uncountable, plural inquisitions)

  1. An inquiry or investigation into the truth of some matter.
    • But as farrefoorth as I coulde learne, through earneſt inquiſition I thoughte in my conſcience the woman was not gilty, all the circumſtances well conſydered.1552, Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[The First Sermon]”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562...
    • Let not search and inquisition quail / To bring again these foolish runaways.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    Synonyms:
    disquisition
    1. (sometimes) Such an investigation that is asserted to be persecutory by its adversaries.
  2. An inquest.
  3. A questioning.
  4. The finding of a jury, especially such a finding under a writ of inquiry.
    • The justices in eyre had it formerly in charge to make inquisition concerning them by a jury of the county.1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC

Verb

inquisition (third-person singular simple present inquisitions, present participle inquisitioning, simple past and past participle inquisitioned)

  1. (obsolete) To make inquisition concerning; to inquire into.
    • And in their name I shall for neither friend nor foe conceal what the general murmur is ; that if it come to inquisitioning again1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC

Proper noun capitalized: Inquisition

Inquisition

  1. (historical) A tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church set up to investigate and suppress heresy.
    • We know from history that the Catholic Church has historically murdered, mutilated, castrated, maimed, imprisoned and flogged homosexuals. Catholic atrocities during the Inquisition are well documented and cannot be denied. The Church no longer does those things to homosexuals, but it violates...1981 December 27, John Rupkey, “Leading The Way In Persecution”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 23, page 4
  2. (broadly) A harsh or rigorous interrogation that violates one’s rights.

inquisition meaning in Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

inquisition in Urdu

باز پرس, چھان بین, تفتیش

inquisition in Malayalam

questioning, interrogation, quizzing
വിചാരണ, ചോദ്യംചെയ്യൽ, ചോദ്യംചെയ്യൽപ്രക്രിയയ, അനുയോഗം, അന്വേഷണം, മര്യശം

inquisition in Kannada

ಹುಡುಕುವುದು, ಶೋಧ, ಶೋಧನೆ, ತನಿಖೆ, ತಲಾಶು

Synonyms of inquisition

Forms of inquisition

Noun
pluralinquisitions
Verb
third-person singular presentinquisitions
present participleinquisitioning
past participleinquisitioned
pastinquisitioned

Plural of inquisition: inquisitions

Origin of 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.

Words formed from inquisition

Words that rhyme with inquisition

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about inquisition

What does inquisition mean?
Inquisition means an inquiry or investigation into the truth of some matter.
What is inquisition in Urdu?
Inquisition in Urdu is باز پرس, چھان بین, تفتیش. See Inquisition meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is inquisition?
Inquisition can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce inquisition?
Inquisition is pronounced /ˌɪŋkwɪˈzɪʃən/.
What is the plural of inquisition?
The plural of inquisition is inquisitions.

Words near inquisition in the dictionary

  1. inquirists
  2. inquiry
  3. inquiry-based learning
  4. inquisitee
  5. inquisitees
  6. inquisition
  7. inquisition post mortem
  8. inquisitional
  9. inquisitionally
  10. inquisitionary
  11. inquisitioned

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inquisition (page history and authors); Inquisition (page history and authors); inquisition (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inquisition (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); inquisition (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-inquisition.ogg.

Cite this entry: “inquisition.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/inquisition. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.