sore point

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sore point (plural sore points)

1. (idiomatic) An action, belief, or state of affairs which is an enduring basis for disagreement or dissatisfaction.

   Synonyms: bone of contention, bone to pick, point of contention

   • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XVIII, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II, page 337:

     The affair of the chaplaincy remained a sore point in his memory as a case in which this petty medium of Middlemarch had been too strong for him.

   • 1911, Jack London, chapter 6, in Adventure:

     It is a sore point with me, this being told what I am to do or not do by you self-constituted lords of creation.

   • 2003 October 27, Adam Zagorin, Scott MacLeod, “So Who's Talking To Iran?”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 2011-01-20:

     [T]he talks have touched on Iran's suspected nuclear-weapons program, its sponsorship of terrorism and other sore points.

• “sore point”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

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