take issue

idiomatic phrase

: to adopt or express an opposed or contrary view or position : disagree

Though a barbecuing Southerner may take issue, Texas-style and Korean barbecue have much in common.

—Anito Lo

—usually used with with

She took issue with the conclusions reached by the study.

Carolyn Nichols, an editor at Bantam, took issue with the notion that romance fiction is escapist.

—Charles Trueheart

Despite the proliferation of all means of communications, from magazines to computers, books remain our chief medium for the full expression of ideas, and for taking issue with those of others.

—Robert R. Harris

Examples of take issue in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Several visitors to Alaska’s Denali National Park took issue with President Trump’s renaming of Mount Denali to Mount McKinley, noting that President McKinley never visited Alaska and had no connection to the peak. —Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Forbes.com, 30 June 2025

The plaintiffs specifically took issue with the task force's recommendation in June 2019 that PrEP, a medication to prevent HIV, be included in the preventive services covered without cost-sharing arrangements. —June 27, CBS News, 27 June 2025

OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap took issue with Amodei’s dire predictions about the way AI might affect labor in an interview earlier this week on the Hard Fork podcast. —Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 27 June 2025

That said, fewer Americans took issue with Israel acting on its own to strike Iranian nuclear and military sites. —Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 26 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1623, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for take issue

• reissue