Problematic

How to spell problematic

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce problematic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does problematic mean?

1. adjectivePresenting a difficulty, or likely to cause problems, doubt, or disagreement.

Problematic in a sentence

• The contract contained several problematic clauses that the lawyers flagged.

• Relying on a single supplier proved deeply problematic when the strike began.

Where does problematic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word descends from the Greek problema, which literally meant 'something thrown or put forward', from pro 'forward' and ballein 'to throw'. In Greek it came to mean a question or task set before someone to be solved, and that same idea passed into Latin as problema and then into Late Latin problematicus. French shaped it into problematique before English adopted it in the early 1600s, originally as a learned term meaning 'doubtful' or 'open to question'. The modern sense of 'causing difficulty or trouble' grew naturally from that older notion of something unresolved. The ballein root, meaning 'to throw', also lurks inside relatives such as 'parable', 'symbol', and even 'devil', and the steady -atic ending (as in dramatic and systematic) is the part that helps fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• problem (from Greek problema: something thrown forward, a question)
• -atic (adjective suffix)