English Explanatory Dictionary

inquiry

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning.
  2. A search for truth, information, or knowledge; examination of facts or principles; research; investigation; inquest.

Pronunciation

/ɪnˈkwaɪəɹi/ /ɪŋ-/ /ɪnˈkwaɪ(ə)ɹi/ /ˈɪnkwɪɹi/ en-us-inquiry.ogg

Word forms

inquiry inquiries enquiry

Etymology

From Middle English enquery, from the Old French verb enquerre, from Latin inquīrō, composed of in- (“in, at, on; into”) + quaerō (“to seek, look for”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”). Later respelled to conform to the original Latin spelling, as opposed to the Old French spelling.

Derived words

coinquiry contextual inquiry court of inquiry disciplinary inquiry domestic inquiry freedom of inquiry grounded narrative inquiry hard inquiry inquiry-based learning line of inquiry point of inquiry soft inquiry writ of inquiry
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on I Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary