{
  "id": "problem.obstacle",
  "term": "problem",
  "sense": "obstacle",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 5,
  "arena": "common",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "a thing that is different from a previous state and makes work",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "difference.relation",
      "previous.temporal",
      "state.condition",
      "work.effort"
    ],
    "interaction": "The difference from a previous state causes effort.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "perceived difficulty",
      "need for a solution",
      "obstacle"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The 2021 Suez Canal blockage by the grounded ship Ever Given halted $10B in daily trade.",
      "domain": "economics"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Hubble Space Telescope's mirror flaw distorted images until corrected in 1993.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "Cancer arises when DNA replication errors escape repair mechanisms, altering cell behavior.",
      "domain": "biology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [
    "solution.answer"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "problem",
    "problems"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-problem.obstacle"
}