burning question

Idioms and Phrases

An urgent or crucial issue under heated discussion. For example, Real estate taxes are always a burning question for the town leaders . This term has exact equivalents in French ( question brûlante ) and German ( brennende Frage ). [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

The burning question facing America is: Will the other basic drive, which Freud called Eros and Harris and Walz call joy, provide us with an alternative?

From Slate

The burning question for many tonight is why was Huw Edwards not sent to prison?

From BBC

Are you a cannabis consumer with a burning question about the wide, wide world of weed — dispensary visits or otherwise?

From Los Angeles Times

Still, for an industry in its infancy, the viability of scaling insect protein into a legitimate climate solution remains a burning question, one Rachel Mazac has studied intently.

From Salon

The burning question their votes will answer is if the ANC’s dominance of South Africa’s post-apartheid democracy will come to an end.

From Seattle Times