Problematic means presenting difficulties that are not easily settled. A problematic assumption, deeply problematic, this is problematic.
The technical sense is that something raises a problem rather than that it is wrong. In recent use it has become a way of calling something objectionable without saying how, which is exactly why people object to the word itself.
1adjectiveproblematicPresenting difficulties that are not easily settled.
“Finding a date that suits everyone has proved problematic.”
problematic is a quality.
Greek problematikos comes from problema, something thrown forward — pro plus ballein, to throw.
Ancient Greek
προβληματικός
Latin
problematicus
Middle French
problématique
English, today
problematic
Built from
Borrowed from Middle French problématique, from Latin problematicus, from Ancient Greek προβληματικός, from πρόβλημα (“outjutting, barrier, problem”), from προβάλλω (“I throw, place before”), from πρό (“before”) + βάλλω (“I throw, place”). by surface analysis, problem + -atic.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA