at issue
Idioms-
In question, under discussion; also, to be decided. For example, Who will pay for the refreshments was the point at issue . [Early 1800s]
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In conflict, in disagreement, as in Physicians are still at issue over the appropriate use of hormone therapy . This usage, from legal terminology, was defined by Sir William Blackstone ( Commentaries on the Laws of England , 1768), who said that when a point is affirmed by one side and denied by the other, “they are then said to be at issue .”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
However, only the teachers’ contract was at issue.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026
What was at issue is whether the FCC is allowed to change the rules on its own.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026
Meta said it would label the video at issue within seven days.
From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026
“Where jurisdictional questions are at issue, the Commission has the expertise and responsibility to defend its exclusive jurisdiction over commodity derivatives,” Selig said.
From Barron's • Jan. 29, 2026
The perpetrators of all this, as Mrs. Heine has taken pains to point out, are no longer among us, so their culpability is not at issue.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
