Is “Solutioning” a Correct Word? (What to Say Instead)

“Solutioning” is a word formed from the word “solution”. This article explains the meaning of “solutioning, ” and provides an answer as to whether or not “solutioning” exists as an English word. The article will also illustrate the alternative of “solutioning” and how to use them in a sentence. 

Is “Solutioning” a Correct Word?

“Solutioning” is not a correct word. The word “solution” is the noun form of the verb “solve.” “Solutioning,” which is not a right English word, is considered a verb form of “solve,”. It is grammatically incorrect when used in a sentence.

“Solutioning” is often used in the IT industry to make communication easier because they have a lot of technical terms. So, they pay a lot of attention to their choice of words when working.

Nevertheless, the word is grammatically incorrect because “solution” is the noun form of “solve.” 

This fact can be proven as most dictionaries do not have a definition for “solutioning” or even recognize it as an English word.

Dictionaries like the Cambridge Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, Longman Dictionary, Merriam-Webster dictionary, and Collins dictionary do not have any definition for the phrase.

This indicates that “solutioning” is not an English word; it is just a word formed to make communication more straightforward in the IT industry and grammatically incorrect.

What to Say Instead

Solving

“Solving” is the present participle of solve; “Solving” is the correct word to use in place of solutioning in a sentence. In some cases, “solving” is the process of finding a solution to a problem. 

According to Cambridge Dictionary, “solve” means “to find an answer to a problem”. 

The following are examples that show the usage of “solving” as an alternative to “solutioning” in a sentence.

• Correct: Rather than running away from the problem, we picked it up and started solving it
• Incorrect: Rather than running away from the problem, we picked it up and started solutioning it.
• Correct: Because of how their teacher taught them, they will likely follow their teacher’s mathematical problem-solving method.
• Incorrect: Because of how their teacher taught them, they will likely follow their teacher’s mathematical problem-solutioning method.
• Correct: The manager asked the team how much solving the problem cost the company.
• Incorrect: The manager asked the team how much the solutioning to the problem cost the company.
• Correct: The competition encompasses all activities that require critical thinking, problem-solving, and using residual memory.
• Incorrect: The competition encompasses all activities that require critical thinking, problem solutioning, and using residual memory.
• Correct: There are several competitions in the world now that tend to bring the best out of an individual by creating activities that require intense problem-solving ability.
• Incorrect: There are several competitions in the world now that tend to bring the best out of an individual by creating activities that require intense problem solutioning ability.

Resolving

“Resolving” is also the present participle of resolve. “Resolving” is used when finding a solution to a problem. 

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “resolve” means “to solve or end a problem or difficulty”. Although resolve has more than one contextual meaning, still, it can be used to replace solutioning in a sentence.

The following examples illustrate the use of “resolving” in a sentence.

• Correct: Dialogue is still the best way of resolving problems and conflict in our society.
• Incorrect: Dialogue is still the best way of solutioning problems and conflict in our Society
• Correct: Resolving any future potential difficulties now will be the best for the plan.
• Incorrect: Solutioning any future potential difficulties now will be the best for the plan
• Correct: It is part of our values to know that retaliation is not a way of resolving problems.
• Incorrect: It is part of our values to know that retaliation is not a way of solutioning problems.

How Prevalent Is the Use of “Solutioning”?

The use of “solutioning” is traced back to the information technology industry, where many technical terms are used to communicate, even though they are grammatically incorrect.

According to the Google Ngram Viewer graph, “solution” is more used than “solutioning”. The chart shows that there has been no usage of “solutioning” over the years. This is because it is not an English word, and it is grammatically incorrect. 

Final Thoughts

“Solutioning” is not an English word. It is grammatically incorrect when used in a sentence. This is because the solution is the noun form of the verb solve; it is grammatically wrong to form another verb from that noun. The use of solutioning is grammatically incorrect and should be avoided.