inquisition
noun /ˌɪŋkwɪˈzɪʃn/
/ˌɪnkwɪˈzɪʃn/
- the Inquisition[singular] the organization set up by the Roman Catholic Church to punish people who opposed its beliefs, especially from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century
- [countable] (formal or humorous) a series of questions that somebody asks you, especially when they ask them in an unpleasant way
- She then subjected me to an inquisition about my romantic life.
see also Spanish Inquisition
Word Originlate Middle English (denoting a searching examination): via Old French from Latin inquisitio(n-) ‘examination’, from the verb inquirere (based on quaerere ‘seek’).