troubleshoot

verb trou·ble·shoot \ -ˌshüt \

Updated on: 15 Apr 2018

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

To make a working sled, the teens are learning how to troubleshoot and use computer models and 3-D printers to create and program their design.

— kathy boccella, Philly.com, "A sled for the blind? Students are making one at Bensalem High School," 3 Apr. 2018
In the movie, there’s a sequence where the astronauts are trying to troubleshoot a piece of electronics.

— stephen wolfram, WIRED, "2001: A Space Odyssey Predicted The Future—50 Years Ago," 3 Apr. 2018
That may mean helping your boss troubleshoot issues or helping to solve problems around the office to make sure things are running smoothly.

— kate lopaze, USA TODAY, "Careers: These skills are vital for administrative assistants," 26 Mar. 2018
Working through problems requires logic and inference and, now more than ever, the ability to troubleshoot difficult-to-diagnose digital malfunctions.

— benjamin preston, Car and Driver, "Wanted: A Shortage of Qualified Automotive Technicians Has Left Service Departments Scrambling To Find New Talent," 22 Mar. 2018
This means that there's no ability to, for example, switch to the unlocked operating system to troubleshoot or perform one-off driver installation and then revert to the safer, locked down mode for normal operation.

— peter bright, Ars Technica, "Windows 10 S becoming a mode, not a version, as Microsoft shakes up its pricing," 5 Feb. 2018
The teams were judged on their ability to troubleshoot and get to the root cause of each vehicular issue in a timely and systematic manner.

— rich heileman, cleveland.com, "Heights' Chamber to honor 'best and brightest': Around The Town," 9 Mar. 2018
Those tasks include restocking shelves and helping customers troubleshoot any technical problems.

— nick wingfield, New York Times, "Inside Amazon Go, a Store of the Future," 21 Jan. 2018
The older system, which uses liquid oxygen, was successfully fixed but authorities could not troubleshoot the two planes equipped with the newer onboard oxygen generation system, or OBOGS.

— kyle mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The Air Force Grounded 28 A-10s After Hypoxia Incidents," 9 Jan. 2018

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.