beg to differ

Verb

beg to differ (third-person singular simple present begs to differ, present participle begging to differ, simple past and past participle begged to differ)

1. (idiomatic) To offer an opposing opinion humbly.
   • Thus Lord King asserted, February 28, 1818, "That the whole of what the noble Secretary of State, Lord Liverpool, had said, amounted to this, that the Sinking Fund was only nominal, and had not paid one shilling of the debt." To which Lord Liverpool replied, "He begged to differ with his Lordship...1819, Thomas Broughton, The Cure for Pauperism; or, The Ancient Standards of Value Compared with the Artificial Standards Created by the Paper Currency; with a Plan of an Effectual Measure of...
   • "Look here, sir, this is all very well," he began, "but why can't I fall in love with your daughter? I'm a Doctor of Science and all that sort of thing. I've a perfectly decent outlook. My father was rather a swell in his science. I'm an entirely decent and respectable person." / "I beg to differ,"...1912, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Crisis”, in Marriage, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited […], →OCLC, book the first (Marjorie Marries), § 8, page 183

   Synonyms:

   disagree

2. (idiomatic) To differ (strongly) in interpretation or opinion.
   • Now the pluralists may say that a place where they run up new houses, and pull down old ones, is by no means disqualified for occupation, but he begs to differ from them decidedly.1854 July 1, “Art II.—(1.) Of the Plurality of Worlds: An Essay. London: John W. Parker and Son. 1853. (2.) More Worlds than One, the Creed of the Philosopher, and the Hope of the Christian. By Sir...
   • Esther Lardent, chief consultant to the ABA's Post Conviction Death Penalty Representation Project, which has helped recruit pro bono lawyers for death row appeals since 1987, begs to differ. Finding a lawyer to represent a death row inmate has never been easy, Lardent says. And finding one now...1996 June, Mark Hansen, “Death’s Door”, in Gary A. Hengstler, editor, ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 82, Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 64, column 1

   Synonyms:

   disagree