Word.ws English Dictionary

question-begging

/ˈkwɛst͡ʃənˌbɛɡɪŋ/

question-begging adjective: begging the question; logically circular.

Adjective

question-begging (not comparable)

  1. (attributive) begging the question; logically circular.
    • They got sick of his question-begging punditry.
    • Vulgarity is a stupid, superficial, question-begging accusation, which has become today the easiest refuge of mediocrity.1886 [1882], Henry James, The Point of View, London: Macmillan and Co.

Noun

question-begging (uncountable)

  1. The act of begging the question.

Origin of question-begging

From begging the question. First attested in the nineteenth century.

Questions about question-begging

What does question-begging mean?
Question-begging means begging the question; logically circular.
What part of speech is question-begging?
Question-begging can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce question-begging?
Question-begging is pronounced /ˈkwɛst͡ʃənˌbɛɡɪŋ/.

Words near question-begging in the dictionary

  1. question the question
  2. question time
  3. question times
  4. question word
  5. question words
  6. question-begging
  7. question-marked
  8. question-master
  9. question-masters
  10. questionability
  11. questionable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: question-begging (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “question-begging.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/question-begging. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.