ADJ
acute, big, enormous, grave, great, serious
We face a serious problem with the water supply in our neighborhood.
little, minor, petty | complex, complicated, difficult, knotty, thorny | growing | basic, central, main, major | common | pressing, urgent | immediate
insoluble, insuperable, insurmountable, intractable
After months of trying to fix the leak, they realized it was an insoluble problem.
long-standing, long-term, perennial | practical | technical
attitude, behavioural, emotional, psychological
She struggled with emotional problems after the accident, but therapy really helped her.
health, physical, sexual | back, heart, knee | drink, drug | social | housing
economic, financial
The country faced serious economic problems after the factory closures.
environmental | legal
VERB + PROBLEM
be, pose, present (sb with)
Finding a reliable babysitter presented us with quite a serious problem last summer.
have
bring, cause, create
The new software created problems for our team during the first week.
be beset with, be confronted by/with, be dogged by, be faced with, be fraught with, confront, encounter, face, run into
The new software project ran into serious problems during the testing phase.
raise
During the discussion, my colleague raised an important problem about the new software system.
identify | consider, debate, discuss, look at/into
address, approach, attack, combat, come/get to grips with, grapple with, handle, tackle
The government is tackling the problem of rising homelessness in the city.
avoid, circumvent, find a way around/round, get around/round
clear up, cure, deal with, overcome, resolve, solve
She worked with a therapist to overcome the anxiety problem that had affected her for years.
alleviate, ease, reduce | exacerbate | analyse, explore
PROBLEM + VERB
arise, come up, occur
A serious technical issue came up during the software update yesterday.
exist
persist, remain
Despite several attempts to fix it, the technical issue remains a major obstacle for our team.
confront sb, face sb
lie in sth
The main problem lies in how we organized the project from the beginning.
PROBLEM + NOUN
area | child
PREP
~ about
There was a problem about who would pay for the broken window.
~ for
Loud neighbors can be a real problem for people who work night shifts.
~ of
The government is trying to find solutions to the problem of unemployment in rural areas.
~ with
My younger brother has a problem with getting to school on time every morning.
PHRASES
an approach to a problem, the crux/heart/root of the problem
The committee finally identified the heart of the problem during yesterday's meeting.
a remedy/solution to a problem, the scale of a problem
ADJ
complicated, difficult | easy, simple
mathematical
The student struggled with the mathematical problem on the final exam.
VERB + PROBLEM
do, find the answer to, solve
My sister spent all evening trying to solve a difficult math problem for her test.
PROBLEM + NOUN
solving
Engineers used creative problem-solving to fix the broken water system in the village.