Inquest
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A formal investigation, often held before a jury, especially one into the cause of a death
"The inquest on keeper Davidson was duly held, and at the commencement seemed likely to cause Tony Palliser less anxiety than he had expected."
- 2 an inquiry into the cause of an unexpected death wordnet
- 3 An inquiry, typically into an undesired outcome
- 4 The jury hearing such an inquiry, and the result of the inquiry
- 5 enquiry; quest; search obsolete, rare
"the laborious and vexatious inquest that the soul must make after science"
Example
More examples"On the inquest it was shown that Buck Fanshaw, in the delirium of a wasting typhoid fever, had taken arsenic, shot himself through the body, cut his throat, and jumped out of a four-story window and broken his neck—and after due deliberation, the jury, sad and tearful, but with intelligence unblinded by its sorrow, brought in a verdict of death "by the visitation of God." What could the world do without juries?"
Etymology
From Middle English enquest, from Old French enqueste (Modern French enquête), from Vulgar Latin inquirere, or from Medieval Latin inquesta < in + Latin quaesita.
Related phrases
More for "inquest"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.