(c.1420–98), Spanish cleric and Grand Inquisitor. A Dominican monk, he became confessor to Ferdinand and Isabella, whom he persuaded to institute the Inquisition in 1478. He was also the prime mover behind the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in and after 1492.
Definition of Torquemada, Tomás de in US English:
Torquemada, Tomás de
proper nounˌtôrkāˈmäT͟Hä
(c.1420–98), Spanish cleric and Grand Inquisitor. A Dominican monk and confessor to Ferdinand and Isabella, he was the prime mover behind the Inquisition in 1478 and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain beginning in 1492.