inquisition
Other forms: inquisitions
An inquisition is a severe, harsh interrogation or questioning. When there's an inquisition, someone is doing everything possible to get to the bottom of something.
While inquisitions are never a very positive experience, this word has even worse connotations thanks to the Spanish Inquisition, which hunted down and persecuted anyone who didn't believe in Catholicism. Today we use inquisition to describe any serious investigation, usually an illegal or immoral one. If your mom keeps hounding you with questions about school, your job, your love life — you might yell, "What is this? An inquisition?"
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Vocabulary lists containing inquisition
The Magna Carta, signed in 1215, is 800 years old on June 15, 2015. The Magna Carta settled the rebellion of some barons against the king. Although some of the language is still obscure, the document is widely credited as being the first statement of individual rights under kingly rule. Among other things, it put a limit on payments that could be made to a king and ensured swift justice, guaranteed by a board of peers, in this case 25 barons. Here are 35 words from the English translation of the original Latin of this document that is the forerunner of democratic expressions like the Declaration of Independence.
Stargirl Caraway lives life on her own terms, but when she moves to a new town her unique personality rubs others the wrong way. As the school year goes on, Stargirl is torn between staying true to herself and fitting in.
In this dystopian novel, sixteen-year-old Connor has been slated to be "unwound" and have his organs donated — until he runs away and joins up with two other fugitive teenagers.