problematic history
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6.9
- noun
:
historia problemática
- The notorious Anderson certainly has a problematic history with the facts and has happily proclaimed his pride in "suing the sh**" out of the Catholic Church.
Examples
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Many universities are re-evaluating their problematic history regarding the funding from controversial donors.
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In contrast, below-level testing has a later and much more problematic history.
Academic text (2015) -
No mention was made in her speech of the problematic history of the HRC's treatment of trans rights.
Blog text (16) -
That's an interesting analogy, and I certainly agree with you that SF/F has a rather problematic history in any number of respects.
Blog text (19) -
The museum's exhibit on colonialism highlighted its problematic history, including the treatment of indigenous peoples.
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The novel explores the problematic history of racial tensions in the city over the decades.
Synonyms
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4.4
A record of past bad actions that makes people not trust a person or organization
Antonyms
How Troubling
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6.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase's meaning is directly compositional: 'problematic' (causing complications) modifies 'history' (past events), yielding a past characterized by issues. This straightforward adjective+noun combination follows common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the intended sense.
Etymology
Problematic history combines problematic (causing trouble) and history (the past). Imagine a building or statue that looks fine today but has hidden events people find upsetting, so the phrase means 'a past or background that causes disagreement or trouble'.