Problem
adj, noun ·Very common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 A difficulty that has to be resolved or dealt with.
"She's leaving because she faced numerous problems to do with racism."
- 2 a source of difficulty wordnet
- 3 A difficulty that has to be resolved or dealt with.; An addiction, other substance use disorder, or comparable psychological challenge.
"I think he has a gambling problem. Lending him money will probably only make it worse."
- 4 a question raised for consideration or solution wordnet
- 5 A question to be answered, schoolwork exercise.
"Study hard, but don't overdo it. The problems in the exam won't be difficult to solve."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 a state of difficulty that needs to be resolved wordnet
- 7 A puzzling circumstance.
- 8 Objection.
"You got a problem with that?"
- 9 Difficulty in accepting or understanding or refusal to accept or understand.
"You made your best honest effort; if they judge you harshly, that’s their problem, not yours."
- 10 A set of moves required to complete a climb.
- 1 Difficult to train or guide; unruly.
- 2 Causing a problem; problematic; troublesome.
"It is more problem to my family than to me."
Example
More examples"There's a problem there that you don't see."
Etymology
From Middle English probleme, from Middle French probleme, from Latin problēma, from Ancient Greek πρόβλημα (próblēma, “anything thrown forward, hindrance, obstacle, anything projecting, a headland, promontory”), from προβάλλω (probállō, “to throw or lay something in front of someone, to put forward”), from προ- (pro-, “in front of”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw, to cast, to hurl”). Doublet of problema.
Related phrases
More for "problem"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.