#auto-da-fe

• Auto-da-fe — A solemn public ceremony historically organized by the Inquisition Court (especially in Spain and Portugal), during which sentences pronounced against heretics or those accused of religious offenses were proclaimed and executed; by popular extension, the term denotes the execution of convicts by burning at the stake or the destruction by fire of books deemed forbidden or dangerous to dogma.
• Auto-da-fe — A solemn public ceremony organized by the Inquisition, especially in Spain and Portugal between the 15th and 19th centuries, during which sentences pronounced against heretics or those accused of religious offenses were proclaimed and executed. Although the term strictly refers to the proclamation of faith and the verdict, it has become synonymous in common parlance with the burning at the stake of convicts or books deemed subversive.
• Auto-da-fe — A literary and graphic variant for the term autodafe, derived directly from the French pronunciation and spelling; a solemn public ceremony organized in the past by the Inquisition tribunal for proclaiming and executing sentences against heretics, often concluding with the burning at the stake of convicts or writings deemed subversive.