burning question

Idioms

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Travelers hunt for regional souvenirs, soothe their homesickness and investigate a burning question: Is the hot dog different?

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

A burning question now is, when will the court rule?

From MarketWatch • Dec. 15, 2025

I think that leaves us with the burning question you and I are now asking every week: Are the justices really that naive and credulous?

From Slate • Jul. 18, 2025

For conservationists, the ferocious Franklin fire and other recent blazes raise a burning question: Is it possible to break this feedback loop and turn the clock back on an increasingly flammable ecosystem?

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2024

They had no choice but to go through this door, even though Reynie had no answer to his last burning question: What if it was a trap?

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023