problematic
/prɒbləˈmatɪk
/adjective
Constituting or presenting a problem: the situation was problematic for teachers...
- This was a show that presented the problematic areas of representation of people outside of one's socio-political group.
- Her analysis captures the problematic nature of the self in late modernity and presents it in stark and provocative relief.
- Blurring the distinction between slave and free makes more complicated and problematic the nature of legal status.
Synonyms
difficult, hard, problematical, taxing, troublesome, tricky, awkward, controversial, ticklish, complicated, complex, knotty, thorny, prickly, involved, intricate, vexed;
paradoxical, puzzling, baffling, perplexing
informal sticky, like herding cats
British informal dodgy
noun
A thing that constitutes a problem: the problematics of artificial intelligence...
- Turning to Molière, Braider examines tensions obtaining between text and performance in Amphytrion, a play that thematizes the problematics of doubles.
- The play is generally considered to stand alongside the work of Henry Miller for its insightful portrayal of the problematics of the American dream.
- They had set a number of fundamental discursive premises that effectively circumscribed much of the subsequent political problematics.
Origin
Early 17th century: via French from late Latin problematicus, from Greek problēmatikos, from problēma (see problem).