Enquiry
noun ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 British form of inquiry. British, alt-of, countable, uncountable
"scientific enquiry"
- 2 a systematic investigation of a matter of public interest wordnet
- 3 a search for knowledge wordnet
- 4 an instance of questioning wordnet
Example
More examples"True democracy makes no enquiry about the color of skin, or the place of nativity, wherever it sees man, it recognizes a being endowed by his Creator with original inalienable rights."
Etymology
From Middle English enquery, from the Old French verb enquerre, from Latin inquīrō, composed of in- (“in, at, on; into”) + quaerō (“I seek, look for”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”). The alternative form inquiry was subsequently respelled to conform to the original Latin spelling, as opposed to the Old French spelling.
Related phrases
More for "enquiry"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.