Definition of inquest

• n. - Inquiry; quest; search.
• n. - Judicial inquiry; official examination, esp. before a jury; as, a coroner's inquest in case of a sudden death.
• n. - A body of men assembled under authority of law to inquire into any matterm civil or criminal, particularly any case of violent or sudden death; a jury, particularly a coroner's jury. The grand jury is sometimes called the grand inquest. See under Grand.
• n. - The finding of the jury upon such inquiry.