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Synonyms

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.

See Examples For:

burning question

It’s a burning question, sparked again by Friday’s anemic employment report showing the country shed jobs last month even as the unemployment rate has fallen this year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

Tuchel will rightly say Uruguay and Japan are the tough tests England required to tune up for the World Cup, but the burning question is still the same and has not been answered.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026

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

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 15, 2025

OK, so maybe it’s not a burning question.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2025

The burning question is: is the universe more like a giant ever-enlarging blimp, or does it pulsate, does it expand and contract?

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

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