frustrate
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to make you feel annoyed or less confident because you cannot do what you are trying to do.
to cause someone to feel distressed, annoyed, or impatient as a result of being unable to change or achieve something.
Simple“It frustrates me when I can't remember the right word in English.”
In context“The lack of clear communication from the management team continues to frustrate the staff, leading to a significant drop in office morale.”
UsageOften used in the passive voice ('to be frustrated') to describe a person's emotional state.
PitfallThe slow internet is very frustrating for me. The slow internet frustrates me.Use the verb 'frustrate' to describe the action, or the adjective 'frustrating' to describe the thing causing the feeling.
- 02 C1 Advanced
to stop a plan or an effort from being successful.
to prevent a plan or attempted action from progressing or succeeding; to thwart.
Simple“The bad weather frustrated our plans to go hiking this weekend.”
In context“The opposition party managed to frustrate the government's attempts to pass the new tax law through a series of procedural delays.”
UsageCommonly takes a plan, attempt, or ambition as its direct object.
Antonyms
From Middle English frustraten (“to prevent, disappoint, render useless”), from Latin frūstrātus, perfect passive participle of frūstrō (“I deceive”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French frustrer.
From Middle English frustrat (“prevented, disappointed, rendered useless”, adjective as well as past participle of frustraten (see Etymology 1)), from Latin frūstrātus, perfect passive participle of frūstrō (“to deceive”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.