problem

See also: Problem and problém

Contents

English

Alternative forms

• probleme (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English probleme, from Old French probleme, from Latin problema, 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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒbləm/
• (dated, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒblɪm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑbləm/
• Hyphenation: prob‧lem

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

problem (plural problems)

1. A difficulty that has to be resolved or dealt with.

   She's leaving because she faced numerous problems to do with racism.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0029:

     “ […] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

   • 2014 March 7, Nicole Vulser, “Perfume manufacturers must cope with the scarcity of precious supplies”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 190, number 13, page 30:

     The perfume industry is facing a major problem: maintaining constant levels of quality is crucial, but it is increasingly difficult to obtain a regular supply of all the necessary natural ingredients.

2. A question to be answered, schoolwork exercise.
3. A puzzling circumstance.

Antonyms

• solution

Hyponyms

• Entscheidungsproblem

Derived terms

terms derived from problem (noun)

• alcohol problem
• algorithmic problem
• Apollonian problem
• Archimedes' problem
• behavior problem
• core problem

• decision problem
• drug problem
• fencepost problem
• fiscal problem
• halting problem
• logic problem

• mathematical problem
• no problem
• problematic
• problematical
• problematize

Translations

difficulty

• Albanian: çështje (sq) f, zavall (sq) m, problem (sq) m
• Amharic: ችግር (čəggər)
• Arabic: مُشْكِلَة‎ f (muškila)
• Aragonese: problema m
• Armenian: խնդիր (hy) (xndir)
• Asturian: problema m
• Azerbaijani: problem (az), məsələ (az)
• Bashkir: мәсьәлә (mäs’älä)
• Basque: arazo
• Belarusian: прабле́ма f (prabljéma)
• Bengali: প্রব্লেম (prôblem)
• Breton: kudenn (br) f
• Bulgarian: пробле́м (bg) m (problém)
• Burmese: ပြဿနာ (my) (pra.ssa.na)
• Catalan: problema (ca) m
• Cebuano: kalisud
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 問題 (zh), 问题 (zh) (wèntí), 困難 (zh), 困难 (zh) (kùnnán), 難題 (zh), 难题 (zh) (nántí), 麻煩 (zh), 麻烦 (zh) (máfán)

• Czech: problém (cs) m
• Danish: problem (da) n
• Dutch: probleem (nl) n
• Esperanto: problemo
• Estonian: küsimus (et), takistus (et), kitsikus, mure, probleem
• Finnish: ongelma (fi), (old slang) probleemi, vaikeus (fi)
• French: problème (fr) m
• Galician: problema (gl) m
• Georgian: პრობლემა (ṗroblema)
• German: Problem (de) n
• Greek: πρόβλημα (el) n (próvlima)

  Ancient: ἀπορία f (aporía)

• Hebrew: בְּעָיָה‎ f (be'aya)
• Hiligaynon: palaligban, problema
• Hindi: समस्या (hi) f (samasyā), मसला (hi) (maslā), प्रश्न (hi) m (praśna)
• Hungarian: probléma (hu), baj (hu), gond (hu)
• Icelandic: vandamál (is) n
• Indonesian: masalah (id)
• Italian: problema (it) m
• Japanese: 問題 (ja) (もんだい, mondai)
• Kazakh: проблема (kk) (problema), мәселе (mäsele)
• Khmer: ចំណោទ (km) (cɑmnaot)
• Korean: 문제 (ko) (munje)
• Kyrgyz: проблема (ky) (problema), көйгөй (köygöy), маселе (ky) (masele)
• Lao: ບັນຫາ (ban hā)
• Latvian: problēma (lv) f
• Lithuanian: problema f
• Macedonian: про́блем m (próblem)

• Malay: masalah (ms), kesulitan, kemusykilan
• Maltese: problema f
• Maore Comorian: taãɓu class 9/10 (taãbu)
• Maori: rarunga
• Mirandese: porblema m
• Mongolian: хүндрэл (mn) (hündrel)
• Neapolitan: prubblema
• Ngazidja Comorian: shaka class 5/6
• Norman: problième m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: problem (no) n

  Nynorsk: problem n

• Occitan: problèma (oc) m
• Old English: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: مشکل‎ (fa) (moškel), مسئله‎ (fa) (mas'ale)
• Polish: problem (pl) m, kłopot (pl) m
• Portuguese: problema (pt) m
• Romanian: problemă (ro) f
• Russian: пробле́ма (ru) f (probléma)
• Sanskrit: समस्या (sa) f (samasyā)
• Scottish Gaelic: duilgheadas m, staing f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: проблем m

  Latin: problem (sh) m

• Slovak: problém (sk) m
• Slovene: problem m
• Spanish: problema (es) m, dificultad (es) f, lío (es) m
• Swahili: tatizo (sw) class 5/6, masaibu (sw)
• Swedish: problem (sv) n
• Tagalog: problema (tl)
• Tajik: мушкил (tg) (muškil), масъала (masʾala), проблема (problema)
• Tatar: мәсьәлә (mäs’älä)
• Thai: ปัญหา (th) (bpan-hǎa)
• Tibetan: རྙོག་དྲ (rnyog dra)
• Turkish: sorun (tr), problem (tr)
• Turkmen: problem, problema, mesele
• Tuvaluan: fakalavelave
• Ukrainian: пробле́ма f (probléma)
• Urdu: سمسیا‎ m (samasyā), مسئلہ‎ m (maslā), پرشن‎ m (praśna)
• Uzbek: masala (uz), muammo (uz), problema (uz)
• Vietnamese: vấn đề (vi)
• Walloon: rujhe (wa) f, aroke (wa) f, arnåjhe (wa) f, rascråwe (wa) f
• Welsh: problem (cy) f
• Yiddish: פּראָבלעם‎ m (problem)
• Yucatec Maya: toop

schoolwork exercise

• Arabic: مَسْأَلَة‎ (ar) f (masʾala), مُشْكِلَة‎ f (muškila)
• Armenian: խնդիր (hy) (xndir), հարց (hy) (harcʿ)
• Asturian: problema m
• Bashkir: мәсьәлә (mäs’älä)
• Basque: buruketa (eu)
• Breton: poelladenn f
• Catalan: problema (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 題目 (zh), 题目 (zh) (tímù), 習題 (zh), 习题 (zh) (xítí), 課題 (zh), 课题 (zh) (kètí)

• Dutch: oefening (nl) f, probleem (nl) n
• Estonian: harjutus
• Finnish: harjoitus (fi), harjoitustehtävä (fi)
• French: problème (fr) m
• Galician: problema (gl) m
• Georgian: ამოცანა (amocana)
• German: Übung (de) f
• Greek: πρόβλημα (el) n (próvlima)

  Ancient: πρόβλημα n (próblēma)

• Hungarian: feladat (hu), példa (hu)
• Interlingua: problema

• Korean: 문제 (ko) (munje)
• Latvian: uzdevums m
• Macedonian: задача f (zadača), проблем m (problem)
• Maori: rapanga
• Norman: problième m
• Norwegian: oppgave (no) m
• Occitan: problèma (oc) m
• Persian: مسئله‎ (fa) (mas'ale)
• Polish: zadanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: problema (pt) m, exercício (pt) m
• Romanian: problemă (ro) f, exercițiu (ro) n
• Russian: зада́ча (ru) f (zadáča), зада́ние (ru) n (zadánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: проблем m

  Latin: problem (sh) m, zadatak (sh) m, jednadžba (sh) f

• Spanish: problema (es) m, ejercicio (es) m
• Swahili: masaibu (sw)
• Thai: โจทย์ (th) (jòot)
• Turkish: soru (tr)
• Walloon: problinme (wa) m

puzzling circumstance

• Bashkir: мәсьәлә (mäs’älä)
• Basque: arazo, buruhauste
• Bengali: প্রব্লেম (prôblem)
• Catalan: problema (ca) m
• Cebuano: problema
• Dutch: probleem (nl) n
• Estonian: mõistatus
• Greek: πρόβλημα (el) n (próvlima)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: utfordring (no) m

• Portuguese: problema (pt) m
• Romanian: problemă (ro) f
• Russian: пробле́ма (ru) f (probléma), зада́ча (ru) f (zadáča)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: проблем m

  Latin: problem (sh) m

• Spanish: problema (es) m, embrollo (es) m, lío (es) m, bronca (es) f (Mexico)
• Swahili: tatizo (sw), masaibu (sw)
• Tagalog: problema (tl)
• Thai: เรื่อง (th) (rʉ̂ʉang)

Adjective

problem (comparative more problem, superlative most problem)

1. (of a person or an animal) Difficult to train or guide; unruly.
2. Causing a problem; problematic; troublesome.
   • 2010, A. M. Aleksander, The Pride of the King

     It is more problem to my family than to me.

See also

• trouble

Further reading

• problem in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• problem in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• problem at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

problem n (definite singular problemet, indefinite plural problem or problemer, definite plural problema or problemene)

1. a problem

Derived terms

• helseproblem
• hovedproblem
• problembarn
• ryggproblem

References

• “problem” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prʊˈbleːm/

Noun

problem n (definite singular problemet, indefinite plural problem, definite plural problema)

1. a problem

Derived terms

• helseproblem
• problembarn
• ryggproblem

References

• “problem” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɔb.lɛm/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

problem m inan

1. problem

Declension

declension of problem

	singular	plural
nominative	problem	problemy
genitive	problemu	problemów
dative	problemowi	problemom
accusative	problem	problemy
instrumental	problemem	problemami
locative	problemie	problemach
vocative	problemie	problemy

Further reading

• problem in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prǒbleːm/

Noun

pròblēm m (Cyrillic spelling про̀бле̄м)

1. problem

Declension

Declension of problem

	singular	plural
nominative	problem	problemi
genitive	problema	problema
dative	problemu	problemima
accusative	problem	probleme
vocative	probleme	problemi
locative	problemu	problemima
instrumental	problemom	problemima

---

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio (of "ett problem," meaning "a problem")

  (file)

Noun

problem n

1. problem; difficulty
2. problem; schoolwork exercise

Declension

Declension of problem
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	problem	problemet	problem	problemen
Genitive	problems	problemets	problems	problemens

Synonyms

• fråga
• komplikation
• kris
• spörsmål
• tal
• uppgift

Related terms

problematik problematisera problematisering problematisk problemavfall problembarn problembaserad

problemdiktning problemdrama problemformulering problemfri problemfylld problemhärva probleminventering

problemkomplex problemkredit problemlös problemlösare problemlösning problemområde problemorienterad

problemsituation problemställning problemtyngd

References

• problem in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)