question
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkwɛs.tʃən/
ipa: /ˈkwɛs.tjən/
ipa: /ˈkwɛʃ.tʃən/
ipa: /ˈkwɛʃ.tən/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈkwɛs.tʃən/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈkwɛʃ.tʃən/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈkwɛʃ.ən/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈkwɛs.ʈən/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈkwɛʃ.ʈən/
ipa: /ˈkwɛ.ʃən/
ipa: /ˈkwɛʔ.ʃən/
rhymes: -ɛstʃən
Forms: form: questions
form: quæstion
Etymology: From Middle English questioun, from Anglo-Norman questiun, from Old French question, from Latin quaestiōnem, accusative of quaestiō (“a seeking, investigation, inquiry, question”), from quaerere (“to seek, ask, inquire”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”).
Partially displaced native Old English āscung. Compare also Middle Low German quēstie (“questioning; inquiry”), Middle High German questje (“question”).
Cognates include English quest.
Senses: examples: text: What is your question?
text: I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
text: Can I ask you two a question? / Please, Christ, yes. / How can you two live like this? / How can... / Don't google the question, Moss!
ref: 2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4
glosses: A worded or expressed sentence, phrase, or only a word on its own, which asks for information, a reply, or a response; an interrogative.
examples: text: The question of seniority will be discussed at the meeting.
text: There was a question of which material to use.
text: I've ordered it all, but there’s still the question of who’s going to pay.
text: The question of the plausibility of the counter-factual is seen as key in all three discussions of allohistorical fiction (as it is in Demandt's and Ferguson's examinations of allohistory) (cf. Rodiek 25–26; Ritter 15–16; Helbig 32).
ref: 2014 October 14, David Malcolm, “The Great War Re-Remembered: Allohistory and Allohistorical Fiction”, in Martin Löschnigg, Marzena Sokolowska-Paryz, editors, The Great War in Post-Memory Literature and Film, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG., →ISBN, page 173:
glosses: A subject or topic for consideration or investigation.
examples: text: His claim to the property has come under question.
text: The story is true beyond question.
text: He obeyed without question.
text: There arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 3:25:
text: It is to be to question, whether it be lawful for Christian princes or states to make an invasive war, only and simply for the propagation of the faith.
ref: 1622 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “An Advertisement Touching an Holy Warre. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC:
text: The pandemic has not only caused an immediate fall in ticket revenues for the world’s public transit networks—rail ridership in Barcelona, Moscow, Beijing and New York City at times plummeting 80%—in some cities it also has thrown into question the future of mass urban transportation.
ref: 2021 April 2, Ciara Nugent, “Can Public Transit Survive the Pandemic? London's New Transport Commissioner Wants You to Believe It Can”, in Time:
glosses: A doubt or challenge about the truth, accuracy, or validity of a matter.
examples: text: I move that the question be put to a vote.
glosses: A proposal to a meeting as a topic for deliberation.
examples: text: I, not at all ambitious of the crown of martyrdom, resolved to temporize: so that, when I was brought to the question the second time, I made a solemn recantation […]
ref: 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter LXXVII, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume II, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
text: The Scottish privy council had power to put state prisoners to the question.
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter II, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
glosses: Interrogation by torture.
examples: text: Made she no verbal question?
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
glosses: Talk; conversation; speech.
Synonyms: word: inquiry
word: enquiry
word: query
word: interrogation
word: subject
word: topic
word: problem
word: consideration
word: proposition
sense: doubt
word: issue
sense: doubt
word: doubt
sense: proposal
word: proposal
Derived terms: $1,000,000 question
academic question
Adriatic Question
a question of
Armenian Question
Armenian question
ask the question
beggar the question
begging the question
beg the question
beyond question
bonus question
burning question
call into question
call the question
chicken and egg question
chicken-and-egg question
chicken-or-egg question
chicken or egg question
closed-ended question
closed question
complex question
cross-question
daft laddie question
direct question
doorknob question
double-barreled question
Eastern question
Eastern Question
elimination question
essay question
federal question
federal question jurisdiction
Fermi question
first-order question
frequently asked questions
FAQ
German Question
German question
good question
I have a question
indirect question
in question
inverted question mark
Irish Question
Irish question
it's a question of time
it's only a question of time
Jewish Question
Jewish question
Karelian question
Karelian Question
kitbag question
leading question
loaded question
million-dollar question
million dollar question
multiple-choice question
national question
no question
no questions asked
open-ended question
open question
out of question
out of the question
polar question
Polish Question
pop the question
previous question
private notice question
pub quiz question
questionable
question-begging
questionist
questionless
question mark
question-master
question master
questionnaire
question of fact
question of law
question of privilege
question of time
question period
questions and commands
question sheet
question stem
question tag
question the question
question time
questionwise
question word
reverse question
rhetorical question
Roman question
Roman Question
scaled question
Schleswig-Holstein question
Schleswig-Holstein Question
shoot first and ask questions later
sixty-four dollar question
sixty-four thousand dollar question
tag question
tail question
there are no stupid questions
there are two sides to every question
there's no such thing as a stupid question
toss-up question
trick question
twenty questions
West Lothian question
wh-question
WH-question
wife-beating question
without question
yes/no question
yes-no question
Related terms: query
quest