The meaning of "out of question" vs "out of the question"?

Out of the question is the term in use today. It means beyond consideration; unthinkable or impossible (Collins dictionary) ... EnglishLanguageLearnersStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforspeakersofotherlanguageslearningEnglish.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Themeaningof"outofquestion"vs"outofthequestion"? AskQuestion Asked 5years,9monthsago Modified 4years,6monthsago Viewed 63ktimes 11 3 Whatisthedifferencebetweenthesetwo? outofquestion versus outofthequestion Does"outofquestion"mean"undoubtedly"and"outofthequestion"mean"impossible"? meaningphrase-meaningdefinite-article Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJun29,2016at4:06 CowperKettle 36k1515goldbadges124124silverbadges221221bronzebadges askedJun29,2016at0:37 prsprs 13711goldbadge11silverbadge1010bronzebadges 2 3 "Outofquestion"feelsunnatural.Couldyouincludethecontextwhereyoufoundit? – A.McCurran Jun29,2016at0:42 Ihaven'tfounditanywhere.IjustfeltIhavehearditsomewhere.Isearchedandseenitistheproblemofothersjustlikeme.@A.McCurran – prs Jun29,2016at0:46 Addacomment  |  4Answers 4 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 12 It'sbeendiscussedonELU,here. Apparently,"outofquestion"meant Beyonddoubt,undoubtedly butitisobsolete.Thissaysitisobsolete. Outofthequestionisstillincommonuse,inmyopinion outofthequestion Notworthconsideringbecauseofbeingtoodifficultorimpossible: Hereissomengramdata Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedApr13,2017at12:38 CommunityBot 1 answeredJun29,2016at0:52 Em.♦Em. 45.1k1212goldbadges133133silverbadges147147bronzebadges 3 2 Aminorcomment:Ioftendon'tbothertoclicklinks(orhovermymouseoverthelinks),soI'dpreferreading"YourDictionarysaysitisobsolete"insteadof"Thissaysitisobsolete". – JiK Jun29,2016at9:47 2 Interestingly,analternativefor"outofquestion"whichIbelieveisstillinwidespreadusagewouldbe"notinquestion". – ChrisPetheram Jun29,2016at12:22 1 "Beyondquestion"(meaning"beyonddoubt")isstillsomewhatcurrent. – EdPlunkett Jun29,2016at12:57 Addacomment  |  7 Outofthequestionistheterminusetoday.Itmeansbeyondconsideration;unthinkableorimpossible(Collinsdictionary). Outofquestionisobsolete,whichmeansnolongerused.Whenitwasused,ithadtwomeanings. Thefirstonewasunquestionablyordoubtless.SeeDefinition5inUniversalDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage.Today,forthismeaningweusewithoutquestion. AsyoucanseefromDefinition6fromthesamedictionary,italsomeantoutofthequestionornottobethoughtof.Soitwasjustavariationofthesamephrasewiththedefinitearticle.(Asanaside,thisshowshowidiomatictheuseofthedefinitearticlecanbe.) TheOxfordEnglishDictionarygivesanexampleofoutofquestion,asavariationofoutofthequestion,asrecentlyas1940: Flighttestshaveshownthatmorethanoneglidercanbetowedbyanaeroplane,sothataglidertrainisnotoutofquestion. (fromthemagazineAeronautics). So,ingeneral,youwon'tseeoutofquestioninusenowadays,butinolderuses(thatarenowobsolete),itcouldmeaneitherthesamethingasoutofthequestionoritcouldmeanunquestionably. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJun29,2016at5:52 answeredJun29,2016at3:20 AlanCarmackAlanCarmack 11.8k22goldbadges2121silverbadges5252bronzebadges Addacomment  |  1 Yes,'outofquestion'meansundoubtedly,butitsusageassuchisobsolete. It'salsocorrectthattheidiom'outofthequestion'that'sverycommonimpliesimpossible. Ifyousaysomethingisoutofthequestion,itmeansit'snotworthconsideringbecauseofbeingtoodifficultorimpossible. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJun29,2016at6:34 KhanKhan 26.6k11goldbadge2626silverbadges4949bronzebadges Addacomment  |  -3 Ithinkitislikethis: outofthequestion:Notworthconsideringbecauseofbeingtoodifficultorimpossible Example: Youranswerisoutofthequestion. Inotherword, "outofthequestion"donotrelatetothequestion. Andtheotherhand: outofquestions:Younolongerhaveanyquestionsatall. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJul11,2016at3:01 answeredJun29,2016at7:19 sherlyfebriantisherlyfebrianti 10133bronzebadges 1 1 No-ifyounolongerhaveanyquestionsyouare"outofquestions"(withan"S"). – psmears Jun29,2016at9:52 Addacomment  |  Youmustlogintoanswerthisquestion. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedmeaningphrase-meaningdefinite-article. 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