Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Posing a problem; difficult to solve: a repair that proved more problematic than first expected.
- adj. Open to doubt; debatable: "if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic” ( Oscar Wilde).
- adj. Not settled; unresolved or dubious: a problematic future.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of the nature of a problem; questionable; uncertain; unsettled; disputable; doubtful.
- In logic, of the nature of a question, possible or doubtful.
Wiktionary
- adj. posing a problem; difficult to overcome or solve
- adj. debatable; open to doubt
- adj. unresolved or dubious
- adj. doubtful or uncertain in its outcome
- n. A problem or difficulty in a particular field of study
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having the nature of a problem; not shown in fact; questionable; uncertain; unsettled; doubtful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
- adj. open to doubt or debate
Etymologies
- Shortening of problematical, from Late Latin problematicus, from Ancient Greek προβληματικός (problēmatikos), from πρόβλημα (problēma, "outjutting, barrier, problem"), from προβάλλω (proballō, "I throw, place before"), from πρό (pro, "before") + βάλλω (ballō, "I throw, place"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“This is why the modern broken world only sees the problematic: the ˜problematic™ is that which can be addressed and solved with a technique, e.g., changing a flat tire on an automobile or downloading security software to fix a virus on one's computer.”
“But a second aspect of “feminism” (I find the term problematic because of this very dichotomy) that seems at least as important is fostering values that challenge that power structure, and which for whatever natural and cultural reasons are loosely (though only loosely) associated with femininity.”
“I find the term problematic only in that I think all fiction should be experimental: no fiction writer should rest satisfied that prose fiction has settled into its final and most appropriate form such that only reiterations of the form with fresh "content" is needed.”
“Her concern with the Apple model is that "it now becomes Apple's relationship and Apple's data," which she described as "problematic for us.”
The Huffington Post: Larry Magid: Should Apple Be the Gatekeeper for Magazine Subscription Data?
“But with Apple's service, "it now becomes Apple's relationship and Apple's data," which she described as "problematic for us.”
“In Genres of the Credit Economy, I developed a historical argument to show that, in periods in which what I call the problematic of representation became visible, economic, political, and epistemological uncertainty often ensued.”
“However, far more problematic is that the First Amendment was written in absolute terms because historical exceptions to free speech were generally not seen as federal matters.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » First Amendment Exceptions and History
“Chris Travers: However, far more problematic is that the First Amendment was written in absolute terms because historical exceptions to free speech were generally not seen as federal matters.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » First Amendment Exceptions and History
“Allowing such folk to label their cars in this way strikes me as sound policy, and restricting it seems problematic from the viewpoint of the government and the first amendment.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » (Maybe) Racist Vanity Plates and the First Amendment
“Nonetheless, that wider topic and problematic is nonetheless itself one that is reflected in, e.g., the Geert Wilders set of topics, which is not entirely unrelated to the current topic.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Andrew McCarthy Sticks to His Guns (And He May Be Pointing Them at You Next)
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘problematic’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words starting with PRO
I've noticed many, many words start with PRO and this is just a collection of them.
professional, pronunciation, Prolagus, probable, prog, proximity, profit, procrastincate, prom, pronoun, promise, proactive and 206 more...
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P
letters starting with p
predicament, presumptuous, predilection, plausible, preeminent, plaintive, paragon, partisan, pathological, paucity, pedantic, penchant and 28 more...
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But technically it means...
Words with technical senses resembling but not wholly reflective of vernacular usage, often because of a need for greater precision in some discipline or other.
planet, twilight, substance, zombie, sublime, type, token, natural, life, epidemic, evolution, likelihood and 12 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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-ic ending
Words ending in ic, tic or nic.
clastic, elastic, caustic, spastic, frantic, lactic, moronic, ironic, panic, doric, diplomatic, bureaucratic and 202 more...
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Faintheart's Words
onomatopoeia, no, terrafactive, word, faint, heart, joy, quixotic, karla, half, amp, tardis and 181 more...
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artoparts's Words
illation, finite, edify, abide, abrade, vouch, amiss, vociferate, perusing, techantiquery, rigamarole, holon and 615 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Jacqueline's Words
glittery, horny, amazing, wanderlust, forlorn, lustily, nonchalant, cool, passive, submissive, roundabout, carousel and 558 more...
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1
hypomania, hypomanic, complementary, deem, problematic, volatile, mercurial, unaccompanied, counterpart, irritability, hyperthymia, violent and 130 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for problematic.

yarb That would rule out about 50% of the OED... Dec 23, 2009
licdom Wm. Safire says this word should not be used, because of its three diferent meanings. What do you think?
problematic Dec 23, 2009