100 Words to Use Instead of “Problem”

No.	Term	Definition
1.	Aberration	Departure from what’s normal.
2.	Abnormality	Something not typical or expected.
3.	Achilles heel	A critical weakness.
4.	Adversity	Difficult circumstances or hardship.
5.	Affliction	Something causing pain or distress.
6.	Aftereffect	A lingering negative result.
7.	Aggravation	Ongoing annoyance or irritation.
8.	Alarm	A cause for urgent concern.
9.	Albatross	A burdensome ongoing responsibility.
10.	Anomaly	Something unusual or unexpected.
11.	Antagonism	Active opposition or hostility.
12.	Bane	A persistent cause of harm.
13.	Barrier	Something that blocks progress.
14.	Blemish	A minor flaw or imperfection.
15.	Blocker	Something preventing completion.
16.	Bottleneck	A point causing slowdowns.
17.	Breakdown	A failure in function or process.
18.	Bug	An error in a system.
19.	Burden	A heavy load or responsibility.
20.	Catch	A hidden drawback or condition.
21.	Challenge	A demanding task or situation.
22.	Complication	A factor making things harder.
23.	Concern	Something that worries or matters.
24.	Consequence	A negative result or outcome.
25.	Constraint	A limiting condition or restriction.
26.	Contention	A point of dispute.
27.	Contradiction	Inconsistency between statements or facts.
28.	Conundrum	A confusing and difficult question.
29.	Crisis	A time of intense difficulty.
30.	Critical issue	A serious matter needing action.
31.	Cul-de-sac	A situation with no way forward.
32.	Curveball	An unexpected difficulty.
33.	Difficulty	Something hard to do or handle.
34.	Dilemma	A choice between tough options.
35.	Disadvantage	A condition reducing success.
36.	Disaster	A sudden major failure or harm.
37.	Discrepancy	A mismatch between expected and actual.
38.	Disruption	An interruption to normal operation.
39.	Distress	Severe anxiety or suffering.
40.	Disturbance	An unsettling interruption.
41.	Drawback	A negative feature or limitation.
42.	Error	A mistake or incorrect action.
43.	Escalation	A worsening or increase in severity.
44.	Exasperation	Strong irritation from repeated issues.
45.	Failure	Lack of success or breakdown.
46.	Fault	A defect or responsibility for error.
47.	Flaw	An imperfection or weakness.
48.	Friction	Tension slowing cooperation or progress.
49.	Glitch	A brief, unexpected malfunction.
50.	Grievance	A complaint about unfair treatment.
51.	Hassle	An annoying inconvenience.
52.	Headache	A persistent source of trouble.
53.	Hiccup	A small temporary setback.
54.	Hindrance	Something that delays progress.
55.	Hitch	A small snag or obstacle.
56.	Hole	A gap in coverage or logic.
57.	Hurdle	An obstacle to overcome.
58.	Imbalance	Lack of proper proportion or equality.
59.	Impediment	Something that obstructs movement or progress.
60.	Inconsistency	Lack of agreement or stability.
61.	Inconvenience	A minor disruption or annoyance.
62.	Inefficiency	Wasted effort or poor performance.
63.	Injury	Physical harm or damage.
64.	Insult	An offensive act or remark.
65.	Interference	Unwanted involvement disrupting outcomes.
66.	Irritation	A cause of annoyance.
67.	Issue	A matter needing attention.
68.	Jam	A situation that stops progress.
69.	Jinx	A seeming cause of bad luck.
70.	Kink	A small defect or twist.
71.	Knock-on effect	An indirect negative result.
72.	Lapse	A temporary failure or oversight.
73.	Liability	A disadvantage or legal responsibility.
74.	Limitation	A boundary on what’s possible.
75.	Lingering doubt	Persistent uncertainty about something.
76.	Load	A heavy demand on resources.
77.	Logjam	A blockage halting progress.
78.	Loss	A reduction or defeat.
79.	Malfunction	Failure to operate correctly.
80.	Mishap	An unlucky accident.
81.	Misstep	A wrong move or mistake.
82.	Mix-up	A confusion of details or items.
83.	Obstacle	Something in the way.
84.	Omission	Something left out by mistake.
85.	Ordeal	A painful or difficult experience.
86.	Oversight	An unintentional failure to notice.
87.	Pain point	A recurring source of frustration.
88.	Pitfall	A hidden danger or difficulty.
89.	Predicament	An unpleasant, hard situation.
90.	Pressure point	A sensitive area causing trouble.
91.	Quandary	Uncertainty about what to do.
92.	Quibble	A minor objection or dispute.
93.	Risk	Chance of loss or harm.
94.	Roadblock	Something stopping forward movement.
95.	Rough patch	A temporary difficult period.
96.	Rupture	A break in relations or structure.
97.	Setback	A reversal that delays progress.
98.	Shortcoming	A deficiency or failing.
99.	Snafu	A confused or messed-up situation.
100.	Snag	An unexpected small difficulty.