inquisitorial
Americanadjective
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of or relating to an inquisitor or inquisition.
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exercising the office of an inquisitor.
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Law.
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pertaining to a trial with one person or group inquiring into the facts and acting as both prosecutor and judge.
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pertaining to secret criminal prosecutions.
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resembling an inquisitor in harshness or intrusiveness.
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inquisitive; prying.
adjective
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of, relating to, or resembling inquisition or an inquisitor
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offensively curious; prying
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law denoting criminal procedure in which one party is both prosecutor and judge, or in which the trial is held in secret Compare accusatorial
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inquisitorial
1755–65; < Medieval Latin inquīsītōri ( us ) ( Latin inquīsītōr-, stem of inquīsītor inquisitor + -ius adj. suffix) + -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The inquisitorial stance was, she said, her role as a congressional overseer charged with holding people accountable.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2026
In a letter Mr. Bailey sent to members of the academy days after the vote, he wrote that the organization could not become “an inquisitorial court.”
From New York Times • Nov. 13, 2023
In the later medieval period, before we get into the modern witch panics, you occasionally got women who were found by inquisitorial boards to be guilty of witchcraft when they were being investigated for heresy.
From Slate • Oct. 29, 2023
In a letter to the judge, Mr. Trump’s legal team said “the judicial system relies upon vigorous advocacy amongst the parties, rather than inquisitorial research by the presiding judicial officer.”
From Washington Times • Nov. 11, 2022
In all cases of conviction by the inquisitorial process, the penalty inflicted was lighter than in accusation or denunciation.
From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume I by Lea, Henry Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
