frustrate

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.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fɹʌˈstɹeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹʌsˌtɹeɪt/
• Rhymes: (UK) -eɪt

frustrate (third-person singular simple present frustrates, present participle frustrating, simple past and past participle frustrated)

1. (transitive) To disappoint or defeat; to vex by depriving of something expected or desired.

   It frustrates me to do all this work and then lose it all.

2. (transitive) To hinder or thwart.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hinder

   My clumsy fingers frustrate my typing efforts.

   • 1895, Frank Frankfort Moore, chapter VI, in One Fair Daughter, volume 1, pages 234–235:

     Perhaps it was the too-tooing of the youth on the coach horn which frustrated the proposal, and made it appear ludicrous rather than insultive to her ears.

   • 2019 October 9, Farhad Manjoo, “Dealing With China Isn’t Worth the Moral Cost”, in New York Times:

     With its far larger population, China’s economy will inevitably come to eclipse ours, but that is hardly a mortal threat. In climate change, the world faces a huge collective-action problem that will require global cooperation. According to this view, treating China like an adversary will only frustrate our own long-term goals.

3. (transitive) To cause stress or annoyance.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:annoy

   This test frustrates me because if I fail, it'll destroy my grade.

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).

frustrate (comparative more frustrate, superlative most frustrate)

1. ineffectual; useless; fruitless.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     Our frustrate search.

   • 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, volume XVI:

     In all eternity I had one chance
     One few years' term of gracious human life
     […]
     And this sole chance was frustrate from my birth
     A mockery, a delusion; […]

frustrate

1. feminine plural of frustrato

frustrate f pl

1. feminine plural of frustrato

frustrate f

1. plural of frustrata

frustrate

1. inflection of frustrare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

• sfruttare, sfrutterà

frūstrāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of frūstrō

frustrate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of frustrar combined with te