bone of contention

English

WOTD – 16 March 2007

Etymology

A reference to two dogs fighting over the same bone.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊn əv kənˈtɛnʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊn əv kənˈtɛnʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

bone of contention (plural bones of contention)

1. (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.

   • 2018 November 18, Phil McNulty, “England 2 - 1 Croatia”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     England's "Football Coming Home" anthem became a serious bone of contention at the World Cup - with Croatia using it as a sign of arrogance from their opponents in the build up to the semi-final.

Translations

Something that continues to be disputed

• Bulgarian: я́блъка на раздо́ра f (jáblǎka na razdóra)
• Czech: jablko sváru (cs) n
• Dutch: twistpunt (nl) n
• Estonian: tüliõun
• Finnish: kiistakapula (fi), riitakapula (fi)
• French: pomme de discorde (fr) f
• German: Zankapfel (de) m
• Latvian: strīda ābols m
• Polish: kość niezgody (pl) f, jabłko niezgody (pl) n
• Russian: я́блоко раздо́ра (ru) n (jábloko razdóra)
• Slovak: jablko sváru
• Swedish: stridsäpple n, tvistefrö n

See also

• sticking point
• apple of discord