problematic

adjective

1. 1

   Posing a problem; having or suffering from problem(s): Difficult to overcome, solve, or decide.

   And the most problematic thing of all is that it is impossible for me even to know and tell you their names, unless one of them happens to be a playwright.

   However, estimating what consumers will pay in the future is problematic.

   The station is blessed with a cafe and staff accommodation, as it's an important crew changeover point, although this can be problematic when services are late.

2. 2

   Posing a problem; having or suffering from problem(s): Not settled, uncertain, of uncertain outcome; debatable, questionable, open to doubt.

   The strangeness of hiring undocumented Mexican women as domestics, many of whom were no older than fifteen, seemed strange to me. It was this strangeness that raised the topic of domestic service as a question and made problematic what had previously been taken for granted.

   a problematic analysis

   it portends a problematic future for the movement

3. 3

   Posing a problem; having or suffering from problem(s): Contributing (especially if subtly) to discrimination (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or ageism).

   [object Object]

4. 4

   datedOnly affirming the possibility that a predicate be actualised.

noun

1. 1

   A problem or difficulty in a particular field of study.

   The seemingly intractable problematic of essentialism versus antiessentialism and primordialism versus circumstantialism endemic to identity analysis today.

   However, for those who come to India’s railway history for the first time, perhaps via knowledge of other countries’ railway histories with which they want to make India-based comparisons or in pursuit of a particular problematic—for example the role of railways in economic development—this chapter may prove useful.

Forms

plural

problematics

comparative

more problematic

superlative

most problematic