leading question

Use Leading question in a sentence

noun

a question so worded as to suggest the proper or desired answer.

Origin:
1815–25

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To leading question

Collins

World English Dictionary

leading question (ˈliːdɪŋ)

—n
	a question phrased in a manner that tends to suggest the desired answer, such as What do you think of the horrible effects of pollution?

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10

Leading question is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

leading question definition

An unfair question that is designed to guide the respondent: “You were drunk the night of the accident, weren't you, Mr. Norris?”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

leading question

A question worded so as to elicit particular information or a particular answer, as in When are you selling the business? This example assumes that the person is going to sell the business, an action that may not have been established or revealed. This expression originated with a specific meaning in law, that is, "a question that guides a witness toward a desired answer." In court, this practice is called leading a witness and is forbidden. [Mid-1800s]

Example sentences

However, no witness testified to that sort of leading question.

For example, an attorney may ask a leading question.

Even though a question can be answered yes or no, it is not a leading question

if it does not suggest a particular answer.

Error can rarely be based upon exclusion of leading question, as it could

easily be replaced.

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Matching Quote

"The great leading distinction between writing and speaking is, that more time is allowed for the one than the other, and hence different faculties are required for, and different objects attained by each. He is properly the best speaker who can collect together the greatest number of apposite ideas at a moment's warning; he is properly the best writer who can give utterance to the greatest quantity of valuable knowledge in the course of his whole life. The chief requisite for the one, then, appears to be quickness and facility of perception—for the other, patience of soul and a power increasing with the difficulties it has to master. He cannot be denied to be an expert speaker, a lively companion, who is never at a loss for something to say on every occasion or subject that offers. He, by the same rule, will make a respectable writer who, by dint of study, can find out anything good to say upon any one point that has not yet been touched upon before, or who by asking for time, can give the most complete and comprehensive view of any question. The one must be done off-hand, at a single blow; the other can only be done by a repetition of blows, by having time to think and do better."

-William Hazlitt