Sample sentences for INQUISITOR

(click/touch triangles for details)

Definition

a questioner who is excessively harsh

or:

an officer of the Inquisition

Though he didn't think they had the right to demand his testimony, he was polite to his inquisitors.

Senator Walsh, the Senate's most famed and feared inquisitor, warned him he was risking the fate of Oilman Harry Sinclair, who went to prison for contempt of the Senate.
Time Magazine -- Cannon v. Inquisitors -- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,739524,00.html (retrieved 04/15/08)
15th century inquisitors were on the lookout for witches.

inquisitors = a questioner who is excessively harsh

He was the tormentor, he was the protector, he was the inquisitor, he was the friend.
George Orwell -- 1984

inquisitor = harsh questioner

She looked at me the way an inquisitor must have glared at his poor victims.
Ernest J. Gaines -- A Lesson Before Dying

inquisitor = a questioner who is excessively harsh

The Inquisitor keeps asking me questions I can't answer.
Cassandra Clare -- City of Glass

inquisitor = someone whose job is to ask questions for an investigation — typically in an excessively harsh manner

inquisitor = an officer of the Inquisition (who could question and punish people thought to be heretical or immoral)

'"I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step towards ensuring that Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose our confidence," said a Ministry insider last night.'
J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

inquisitor = an investigator (with the implication that questioning will be excessively harsh)

Naturally all the glory belonged to the victim and all the shame to the Inquisitor who burned him.
George Orwell -- 1984

inquisitor = harsh questioner

The scientist of today is either a mixture of psychologist and inquisitor, studying with real ordinary minuteness the meaning of facial expressions, gestures, and tones of voice, and testing the truth-producing effects of drugs, shock therapy, hypnosis, and physical torture; or he is chemist, physicist, or biologist concerned only with such branches of his special subject as are relevant to the taking of life.
George Orwell -- 1984

inquisitor = harsh questioner

It was the Grand Inquisitor descending over us, the top of his head a shiny skin cap.
Joy Kogawa -- Obasan
The attitude of inquisitor turned its ignobler face, and with the same movement Newman declared that the Bellegardes should have another chance.
Henry James -- The American
I leave that to the inquisitors.
Eugene Ionesco -- Rhinoceros
If this be the design of it, who can so properly be the inquisitors for the nation as the representatives of the nation themselves?
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers
The proper inquisitors are the representatives of the nation.
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers — Modern English Edition 2
Jean Louise turned to her inquisitor, a young woman with a small hat, small features, and small sharp teeth.
Harper Lee -- Go Set a Watchman
He was sharply retrieved by his inquisitor.
Mark Helprin -- A Soldier of the Great War
A grand inquisitor might have envied that smile.
Victor Hugo -- Les Miserables
No doubt their chief aim was artistic torture, but some at least of the inquisitors must have had a touch of scientific curiosity.
H.G. Wells -- The Island of Dr. Moreau
Minos, the strict inquisitor, appears; And lives and crimes, with his assessors, hears.
Virgil -- The Aeneid

Search for other examples by interest

Interest — Source