the sixty-four thousand dollar question

the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question

A question that is very important and difficult or complex to answer. Taken from the title of the 1950s television game show based on the earlier radio program Take It or Leave It, which popularized the phrase "the sixty-four-dollar question." The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question now is whether he should choose his former opponent as a running mate. A: "Do you want to get Italian or Chinese tonight?" B: "Well, that's the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, isn't it?"
See also: question
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the sixty-four thousand dollar question

something that is not known and on which a great deal depends.
This expression dates from the 1940s and was originally the sixty-four dollar question , from a question posed for the top prize in a broadcast quiz show.
1996 Independent Will conversion make the society a better business? That is the $64,000 question.
See also: dollar, question, thousand
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

the sixty-four thousand dollar ˈquestion

(also the million dollar ˈquestion) a very important question which is difficult or impossible to answer: The sixty-four thousand dollar question for modern astronomy is ‘Is there life elsewhere in the universe?’This phrase originated in the 1940s as ‘the sixty-four dollar question’. It came from a popular US radio quiz programme at the time on which the top prize was $64.
See also: dollar, question, thousand
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, the
  • the 64,000 dollar question
  • the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question
  • sixty-four-dollar question
  • the sixty-four-dollar question
  • $64 question
  • 64
  • go down the rabbit hole
  • rabbit hole
  • snowball into
References in periodicals archive
But the sixty-four thousand dollar question is: how well will the rupee depreciation support export growth?
After the rupee depreciation
Now that really is the sixty-four thousand dollar question.
What on earth are we going to do now?
A senior Labour source said, "The sixty-four thousand dollar question is what will happen next.
Labour figures press for Plaid pact
Drugs in athletics used to be the sixty-four thousand dollar question. But suddenly, sixty-four MILLION looks a lot nearer.
Athletics: MOORCROFT: I'LL FIGHT FOR SPORT I LOVE
The sixty-four thousand dollar question is: Has Hick at last matured as a man and does he now have the temperament for the big time?
Giddins' absence is obvious blot on landscape