beg the question

Cultural  

1. To assume what has still to be proved: “To say that we should help the region's democratic movement begs the question of whether it really is democratic.”

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beg the question Idioms  

1. Take for granted or assume the truth of the very thing being questioned. For example, Shopping now for a dress to wear to the ceremony is really begging the question—she hasn't been invited yet. This phrase, whose roots are in Aristotle's writings on logic, came into English in the late 1500s. In the 1990s, however, people sometimes used the phrase as a synonym of “ask the question” (as in The article begs the question: “What are we afraid of?”).

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Example Sentences

“It will beg the question of the senior staff, why are you here? Why do we need to promote you? Why do you need a raise when you’re flaunting things like that?”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026

The recent mishaps do beg the question, what is set piece coach Carlos Fernandes, who accompanied Amorim from Sporting, actually doing?

From BBC • Dec. 22, 2024

Yet they beg the question: Wouldn’t it be easier to ditch milk, cheese, and beef for plant-based alternatives?

From Scientific American • Nov. 7, 2023

These myriad variations beg the question: Is there such a thing as a 'right' way to make an old-fashioned?

From Salon • Mar. 28, 2022

This might seem to beg the question of how the ball got rolling in the first place—the ‘first cause’.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Related Words

• avoid
• bypass
• circumvent
• conceal
• deceive
• dodge
• elude
• escape
• fend off
• flee
• get around
• hide
• sidestep