at issue

Idioms  

1. In question, under discussion; also, to be decided. For example, Who will pay for the refreshments was the point at issue . [Early 1800s]

2. 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 .”

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Example Sentences

Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s first question was about not history or even the agency at issue in this case, but instead about how to distinguish the Federal Reserve Board from the Federal Trade Commission.

From Slate

Many hostile takeovers succeeded because the assets at issue were relatively simple.

From Los Angeles Times

At issue was Likely’s post-reception action, and whether or not he had completed the proper sequence of steps and moves to satisfy that all-purpose bit of NFL gobbledygook:

From The Wall Street Journal

He called the loans potentially criminal and wrote, “at a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness.”

From Salon

At issue is the near-ubiquitous practice of brands subcontracting work to suppliers, who in turn contract to others, amid ever-tighter margins and scant oversight of labour conditions.

From Barron's

Related Words

• debatable
• problematic
• unresolved
• unsettled