auto-da-fé
Americannoun
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autos-da-fé
plural
noun
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history a ceremony of the Spanish Inquisition including the pronouncement and execution of sentences passed on sinners or heretics
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the burning to death of people condemned as heretics by the Inquisition
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of auto-da-fé
1715–25; < Portuguese: act of the faith
Vocabulary lists containing auto-da-fe
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.
See Examples For:
When orchestra rehearsals started Feb. 14, Nézet-Séguin shortened a 16th note here, lengthened an eighth note there as he sang the vocals — including the Celestial Voice ending the auto-da-fé.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2022
After characterizing it as a 21st-century auto-da-fé on Twitter, op-ed writer Bari Weiss first argued it was evidence of an out of control PC culture on campus.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2018
At the Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology, I visited a costume museum that preserves a collection of antique clothing which escaped the auto-da-fé.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 21, 2016
He heightens the domestic-drama aspect in certain scenes and pushes the auto-da-fé into the auditorium and lobby, where it becomes a fourth-wall-breaking media spectacle.
From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2013
In 1573 occurred the first auto-da-fé, followed by numerous other such grim ceremonies, for Lima was naturally the head-quarters of the Inquisition.
From South America by W. H. (William Henry) Koebel
Seven out of eighteen autos-da-fé presided over by the famous Inquisitor, Bernard Gui, decreed no severer penalty than imprisonment.
From The Inquisition A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the Church by Bertrand L. (Bertrand Louis) Conway
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.
