To question something means to express doubt about it or to ask for more information. When you question whether your friend really saw a UFO, you're not calling them a liar: you're wondering if they might have seen an airplane or satellite instead. When a scientist questions an old theory, she's asking whether the evidence really supports it.

A question is also something you ask when you want to learn. “What time is the movie?” and “How do plants make food?” are both questions. Good questions drive learning forward. When you're curious about how something works, asking questions helps you understand it better.

The word appears in several common phrases. When something is out of the question, it's absolutely not going to happen. When something is in question, people doubt it or disagree about it: “After the referee's controversial call, the outcome of the game was in question.” When you do something without question, you do it immediately and completely, trusting whoever asked.

Questioning isn't the same as being negative or argumentative. Thoughtful people question their own assumptions. They ask “Am I sure about this?” or “Could I be wrong?” That kind of questioning leads to better thinking and fewer mistakes.