Spanish Inquisition


noun
  1. the Inquisition in Spain, under state control from 1480 to 1834, marked by the extreme severity and cruelty of its proceedings in the 16th century.

Words Nearby Spanish Inquisition

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How to use Spanish Inquisition in a sentence

  • The Recorder, among the rest, commended the Spanish Inquisition, saying it would never be well till we had something like it.

    Andrew Marvell | Augustine Birrell
  • There were the doings of the Spanish Inquisition in respect of English sailors.

    Ten Tudor Statesmen | Arthur D. Innes
  • In this she had little to learn either from a Dante, or the Spanish Inquisition.

    Mrs. Bindle | Hebert Jenkins

British Dictionary definitions for Spanish Inquisition

Spanish Inquisition

noun
  1. the institution that guarded the orthodoxy of Catholicism in Spain, chiefly by the persecution of Jews and Muslims, esp from the 15th to 17th centuries: See also Inquisition

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Spanish Inquisition

Spanish Inquisition

The church court of the Inquisition, as established in Spain in the late fifteenth century. (See also Tomás de Torquemada (see also Torquemada).)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.