auto-da-fé

American  

[aw-toh-duh-fey] / ˌɔ toʊ dəˈfeɪ /

noun

autos-da-fé plural

1. the public declaration of the judgment passed on persons tried in the courts of the Spanish Inquisition, followed by the execution by the civil authorities of the sentences imposed, especially the burning of condemned heretics at the stake.

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auto-da-fé British  

/ ˌɔːtəʊdəˈfeɪ /

noun

1. history a ceremony of the Spanish Inquisition including the pronouncement and execution of sentences passed on sinners or heretics

2. the burning to death of people condemned as heretics by the Inquisition

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• autos-da-fé
  plural

Etymology

Origin of auto-da-fé

1715–25; < Portuguese: act of the faith

Example Sentences

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

Ms. Milch-Sheriff scores the scene with organ, making the trial seem like an auto-da-fé.

From New York Times • Jun. 24, 2018

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

Or an auto-da-fé that destroyed the evidence of wifely heresy?

From The New Yorker • Nov. 16, 2015

The smoke of the auto-da-fé had, in blackening it, put a morbid touch of hysteria beneath.

From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Saltus, Edgar