Issue

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈɪʃuː/

Definitions

1. A topic or problem that people discuss, debate, or need to resolve
2. A subject or matter that is debated or considered ; the action of giving out or sending forth something such as a publication or payment ; the children born to a person or a product that results from an action
3. A point of contention or concern under consideration ; the process of delivering, releasing, or circulating items like documents or money ; the descendants of an individual or the outcome produced by a cause

Etymology: The word's most surprising journey is from a simple exit to a courtroom dispute. In Old French, "issue" meant "an exit, a way out," and it came from "issir," "to exit," which descended from Latin "exeō," built from "ex-" ("out") and "eō" ("go"). Its earliest English use was in a legal sense: the final point in pleadings that a trial would decide, which is how the word came to mean the disputed facts themselves in the early 14th century. From there the sense widened. By the early 15th century it could name a point of contention between two parties, and by 1836 it had come to mean any important matter awaiting a decision. The idea of "joining issue" appears in the 1690s, and "take issue with" in 1797, both preserving the sense of two sides standing on opposite points of a dispute. The sense of "to have issues," meaning unresolved conflicts, is much newer, dating to 1990.

Synonyms: problem, topic, matter, subject

Antonyms: solution, resolution