troubleshoot

play

verb trou·ble·shoot \ -ˌshüt \

Definition of troubleshoot

troubleshot play \-ˌshät\; troubleshooting

intransitive verb

:to operate or serve as a troubleshooter

is troubleshooting for an electronics firm

transitive verb

:to investigate or deal with in the role of troubleshooter

troubleshoots TV receivers

troubleshoot a problem

See troubleshoot defined for kids

Recent Examples of troubleshoot from the Web

The information can be falsified in a way that prevents system operators from successfully troubleshooting the cause of the failure.

— dan goodin, Ars Technica, "Found: “Crash Override” malware that triggered Ukrainian power outage," 12 June 2017
Brooke Edmunds, a horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension Service, troubleshoots the following common problems that might afflict your tomatoes as the season goes on.

— kym pokorny, OregonLive.com, "Grow the best tomatoes by recognizing, and solving, common problems," 11 June 2017
Flausch said that his organization and Metro are close to finalizing a December conference, where international transit administrators will come to the District to troubleshoot Metro’s problems.

— martine powers, Washington Post, "In Germany, Metro’s troubles garner sympathy from around the world," 3 June 2017
Also, a quick note: Message boards can be tedious, but often people with very specific issues are getting help from others who are troubleshooting on their own.

— tamara chuang, The Denver Post, "DNS issues with Southwest, Kaiser and other sites point to Microsoft Edge," 29 May 2017
Students – mostly young people of color from low-income families – spend 40-hour weeks learning everything from how to troubleshoot a computer and draft a business plan to how to write thank-you notes and give an authoritative handshake.

— jessica mendoza, The Christian Science Monitor, "Year Up matches urban youth to a hungry job market," 22 May 2017
Instead of closing the gate, workers spent three hours troubleshooting the problem as almost 9 million gallons of untreated wastewater spewed into Puget Sound and forced the closure of nearby beaches for four days.

— The Seattle Times, "A disaster years in the making," 28 Apr. 2017
The fundamental contributor to last week’s outages was the difficulty of the operator, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America, to efficiently troubleshoot and resume normal operations.

— phil brown, OrlandoSentinel.com, "OIA official: I'm sorry for airport tram delays — you'll be compensated," 27 Apr. 2017
There was always some guy who was potentially on the spectrum, who knew everything about troubleshooting all the network issues and was crucial to the whole thing.

— dave itzkoff, New York Times, "Thomas Middleditch of ‘Silicon Valley’ on Doing Verizon Ads and Flying His Own Plane," 21 Apr. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'troubleshoot.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of troubleshoot

back-formation from troubleshooter

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First Known Use: 1918

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Other Computer-Related Terms

adware, flash, kludge, phishing, recursive, router

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See words that rhyme with troubleshoot Nglish: Translation of troubleshoot for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of troubleshoot for Arabic speakers

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