Problematic definition

prŏblə-mătĭk
problematical problematics
See word origin
Frequency:
Having the nature of a problem; hard to solve or deal with.
adjective
8
0
Something that poses a problem or difficulty.
noun
5
2
An unresolved problem or inherent difficulty, as in a field of study.
noun
5
2
adjective
3
0
The definition of problematic is something that creates or presents a difficulty, or that seems to be untrue, unlikely or incorrect.

When you are stranded on a dark street late at night and you have no money to call a cab or take a bus home and no phone to reach anyone, this is an example of a problematic situation.

adjective
2
0
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Open to doubt; debatable.
adjective
3
2
Not settled; unresolved or dubious.

A problematic future.

adjective
2
1
Not settled; yet to be determined; uncertain.
adjective
2
1
Posing a problem; difficult to overcome or solve.
adjective
1
0
Debatable; open to doubt.
adjective
1
0
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Doubtful or uncertain in its outcome.
adjective
1
0
(chiefly in the plural) A problem or difficulty in a particular field of study.
noun
1
0
Posing a problem; difficult to solve.

A repair that proved more problematic than first expected.

adjective
2
2

Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
problematic
Plural:
problematics

Origin of problematic

  • Shortening of problematical, from Late Latin problematicus, from Ancient Greek προβληματικός (problÄ“matikos), from πρόβλημα (problÄ“ma, “outjutting, barrier, problem"), from προβάλλω (proballō, “I throw, place before"), from πρό (pro, “before") + βάλλω (ballō, “I throw, place").

    From Wiktionary

Problematic Sentence Examples

  • Going back and forth between these strategies is problematic, to say the least.

  • Many of the Ecaudata have remnants of oviducts, or Miillerian ducts, most developed in Bufo, which genus is also remarkable as possessing a problematic organ, Bidder's organ, situated between the testis and the adipose or fat-bodies that surmount it.

  • The relationship with Aepyornis of Madagascar is still problematic. Whilst the moas seem to have been entirely herbivorous, feeding not unlikely upon the shoots of ferns, the kiwis have become highly specialized wormeaters.

  • In other words, a categorical universal is often problematic, but a problematic is not the same as a hypothetical judgment.

  • It is equally opposed to the doctrine which represents the subject itself and its state and judgments as the single immediate datum of consciousness, and all else, whether the objects of an external world or person other than the individual subject whose states are known to itself, as having a merely problematic existence resting upon analogy or other process of indirect inference.

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Words near problematic in the Dictionary