what's the matter

Idioms  

1. What is the difficulty or problem? What troubles or ails you? For example, You look upset—what's the matter? or Can you tell me what's the matter with my car? This idiom uses matter in the sense of “the essence of something,” in this case a problem. It was first recorded in 1469. Also see what's with.

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Example Sentences

Male characters embody strength and embrace manliness in a way that trucks along completely outside our fraught and raging “What’s the matter with men?” discourse.

From The Wall Street Journal

The great Allan Massie gives Barton Swaim the correct diagnosis in “What’s the Matter With Scotland?”

From The Wall Street Journal

Appeared in the December 6, 2025, print edition as 'What’s the Matter With Scotland?'.

From The Wall Street Journal

He observes, for example, that “in one of the strange involutions of the modern age, we go onto the internet to see what’s the matter with the internet.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“What’s the matter, governess? Afraid of heights?”

From Literature