bone of contention
Something that continues to be disputedSomething that continues to be disputed; something on which no agreement can be reached.
» The division of the property was a bone of contention between the brothers.
Хребтом разногласий межу братьями было разделение собственности. — Hellerick
Tatoeba contributors · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(idiomatic)Something that continues to be disputed; something on which no agreement can be reached.
It is still a bone of contention whether to go ahead with the original plan in light of the new evidence.
Zankapfel
я́блоко раздо́раjábloko razdóra
- the subject of a dispute
Examples
2 sentencesThe division of the property was a bone of contention between the brothers.
ruХребтом разногласий межу братьями было разделение собственности. — Hellerick
The choice of place for holiday turned out to be a real bone of contention in their family this year.
Translations
5 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
A reference to two dogs fighting over the same bone.A reference to two dogs fighting over the same bone.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: bones of contention| Singular | bone of contention |
|---|---|
| Plural | bones of contention |
irregular · Lesson
Word family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Plural nouns — Because its plural is irregular
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.