What does troublesome mean?
Troublesome is an adjective meaning likely to cause trouble, difficulty, irritation, or inconvenience. It is commonly used for problems, questions, symptoms, situations, or behaviors that are annoying, disruptive, or difficult to manage. In formal writing, it can characterize an issue as persistently complicated, while in more general contexts it may simply describe an irritating person or situation. For example, a troublesome question may be difficult to answer or likely to provoke disagreement, whereas troublesome symptoms can be persistent and disruptive. The word is often slightly more formal or more strongly disapproving than terms such as difficult or annoying, especially when it describes a child or an employee's behavior. It remains useful because it identifies something that is not merely noteworthy but actively liable to cause difficulty or disruption. Troublesome belongs to the same English word family as trouble, troubled, and troubling, and it combines the idea of disturbance with the suffix “-some,” which marks a characteristic quality.
adjectiveCausing or likely to cause difficulty, irritation, or trouble; annoying or hard to manage.
- Causing or likely to cause difficulty, irritation, or trouble.
- Annoying or hard to deal with.
"The troublesome issue was resolved after a lengthy discussion."
"The troublesome issue was resolved after a lengthy discussion."
"The child had become troublesome during the long journey."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does troublesome come from?
Troublesome was formed in Middle English by adding the suffix “-some” to trouble, with a meaning equivalent to “causing trouble.” The word trouble came into English through Old French from the Latin verb turbāre, meaning “to disturb” or “to throw into confusion.” English had already used “-some” in words such as handsome and fulsome to express a quality or tendency. Latin turbāre is also the source of cognates including turbulent and turbulence, which carry related ideas of agitation, disturbance, and disorder.
Related word forms
How troublesome is actually used
Troublesome is formal or neutral in tone. When applied to a person, it can sound disapproving, so it is often better to describe the specific behavior or situation rather than label the person directly.
Easily confused with troublesome
Troublesome describes something that causes difficulty or annoyance, whereas troubled describes a person or thing that is distressed, uncertain, or affected by a problem.