inquisitorial

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

Here we see the inquisitorial jurisdiction completely subordinate to that of the bishop, but when the inquisitors soon afterwards left Toulouse to hold inquests elsewhere they acted with full independence.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Lea, Henry Charles