Idiom
bone of contention
Meaning
Something that continues to be disputed; something on which no agreement can be reached.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Money is always a bone of contention in their family.”
“The old parking space has been a bone of contention between the two neighbors for years.”
“The proposed highway, cutting through protected woodland, became a bone of contention that divided the town council and dominated every local election thereafter.”
Examples
simple
“Money is always a bone of contention in their family.”
contextual
“The old parking space has been a bone of contention between the two neighbors for years.”
complex
“The proposed highway, cutting through protected woodland, became a bone of contention that divided the town council and dominated every local election thereafter.”
Origin
A reference to two dogs fighting over the same bone.
Key words
Related idioms
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