Problematic

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Problematic \Prob`lem*at"ic\, Problematical \Prob`lem*at"ic*al\,
     a. [L. problematicus, Gr. ?: cf. F. probl['e]matique.]
     1. Having the nature of a problem; not shown in fact;
        questionable; uncertain; unsettled; doubtful; as, his
        theory is problematic because it fails to explain several
        facts. -- {Prob`lem*at"ic*al*ly}, adv.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              Diligent inquiries into remote and problematical
              guilt leave a gate wide open to . . . informers.
                                                    --Swift.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Having characteristics which will create difficulties or
        undesirable consequences; -- of a proposed action; as, the
        proposed law is problematic because it will cause many
        people to lose their jobs.
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  problematic
       adj 1: open to doubt or debate; "If you ever get married, which
              seems to be extremely problematic" [syn: {debatable},
              {problematical}]
       2: making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve; "a
          baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to
          have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"
          [syn: {baffling}, {knotty}, {problematical}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  89 Moby Thesaurus words for "problematic":
     a bit thick, a bit thin, absurd, ambiguous, arguable, at issue,
     baffling, bewildering, beyond belief, bothering, confounding,
     confusing, confutable, conjectural, contestable, controversial,
     controvertible, debatable, deniable, difficult, discomposing,
     disconcerting, dismaying, disputable, disputed, distracting,
     disturbing, doubtable, doubted, doubtful, dubious, dubitable,
     embarrassing, enigmatic, hairy, hard of belief, hard to believe,
     iffy, implausible, in dispute, in doubt, in dubio, in question,
     inconceivable, incredible, indecisive, intricate, mistakable, moot,
     mysterious, mystifying, not deserving belief, open, open to doubt,
     open to question, open to suspicion, passing belief, perplexing,
     perturbing, precarious, preposterous, problematical, puzzling,
     questionable, questioned, refutable, ridiculous, sensitive,
     speculative, staggering belief, suppositional, suspect, suspicious,
     tall, thick, thin, touchy, tricky, unbelievable, uncertain,
     unconvincing, undecided, unearthly, ungodly, unimaginable,
     unsettled, unthinkable, unworthy of belief, upsetting