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Synonyms

troublesome

American  
[truhb-uhl-suhm] / ˈtrʌb əl səm /

adjective

  1. causing trouble, annoyance, or difficulty; vexatious.

    a troublesome situation; a troublesome person.
    Synonyms:
    galling

  2. laborious; difficult.

    Synonyms:
    burdensome, hard, arduous
    Antonyms:
    easy

  3. Archaic. full of distress or affliction.

troublesome British  
/ ˈtrʌbəlsəm /

adjective

  1. causing a great deal of trouble; worrying, upsetting, or annoying

  2. characterized by violence; turbulent

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • troublesomely adverb
  • troublesomeness noun
  • untroublesome adjective

Etymology

Origin of troublesome

First recorded in 1540–50; trouble + -some 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Its explanation, however, in effect said that AI didn’t generate the troublesome software coding itself, but did give an engineer instructions about how to write the code — erroneously.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

The disruption is troublesome for Kenya, which is also dependent on fuel imports.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

For Gen, the settled beavers and transformation of habitat more than make up for the run around given by the troublesome two.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

Such opaque processes and tariff volatility are particularly troublesome for small businesses.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 19, 2026

“Today’s gleaning was...more troublesome than expected,” he said.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.