frustrate

/ˌfrʌˈstreɪt/

/ˈfrʌstreɪt/

Other forms: frustrated; frustrating; frustrates

When you frustrate someone, you do your best to annoy, confuse, or even torment that poor person. Maybe you constantly change your mind — that's sure to frustrate anyone who tries to make plans with you.

If you have ever been frustrated while writing, you may have dropped your pen — or pushed away your keyboard — and stared angrily out the window, thinking, "How will I ever do this?" Well, that pent-up doubting that has made you stop is a sure sign you are frustrated. Plans, too, can be frustrated, like the snow that frustrates our efforts to run our errands.

Definitions of frustrate

1. verb

   hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
   “What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge”

   synonyms: baffle, bilk, confound, cross, foil, queer, scotch, scuttle, spoil, thwart

   types:

   disappoint, let down

   fail to meet the hopes or expectations of

   dash

   destroy or break

   short-circuit

   hamper the progress of; impede

   ruin

   destroy or cause to fail

   betray, fail

   disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake

   come short, fall short

   fail to meet (expectations or standards)

   disenchant, disillusion

   free from enchantment

   undo

   cause the ruin or downfall of

   break

   cause the failure or ruin of

   shipwreck

   ruin utterly

   type of:

   forbid, foreclose, forestall, preclude, preempt, prevent

   keep from happening or arising; make impossible
2. verb

   discourage or cause annoyance or upset
   synonyms: bedevil, crucify, dun, rag, torment

   types:

   madden

   drive up the wall; get on someone's nerves

   hamstring

   make ineffective or powerless

   badger, beleaguer, bug, pester, tease

   annoy persistently

   oppress, persecute

   cause to suffer

   purge

   oust politically

   type of:

   beset, chevvy, chevy, chivvy, chivy, harass, harry, hassle, molest, plague, provoke

   annoy continually or chronically