INQUISITION

[noun] [C] [formal] [disapproving] - a period of detailed and unfriendly questioningThe police subjected him to an inquisition that lasted 12 hours.The Inquisition (1232-1820) was the official organization within the Roman Catholic Church whose work was to discover and punish heresy (= religious beliefs that are considered to be wrong).The Spanish Inquisition was the Inquisition that lasted until the 19th century in Spain, and which was established to protect Roman Catholicism and punish those people whose religious beliefs were considered wrong.