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.
Movies, for better or worse, are among the few remaining ways for Americans to encounter, metabolize, and wrestle with big moral issues at scale.
From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026
That’s possible, and the related legal and moral issues are undoubtedly complex.
From Salon • Apr. 14, 2024
"We held off because it was a really hard decision, because we've wrestled with the moral issues, the normative issues, the humanitarian issues."
From Reuters • Jul. 10, 2023
Republican Senate subcommittee chairman Greg Hembree said the bill’s goal wasn’t to debate the legality of the death penalty, but deep moral issues inevitably arose in the discussion.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 19, 2023
In my twelve years as a Muslim minister, I had always taught so strongly on the moral issues that many Muslims accused me of being “anti-woman.”
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
