Frustrating

//ˈfɹʌsˌtɹeɪ̯tɪŋ// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of frustrate form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    Discouraging; causing annoyance or anger by excessive difficulty.

    "The episode’s unwillingness to fully commit to the pathos of the Bart-and-Laura subplot is all the more frustrating considering its laugh quota is more than filled by a rollicking B-story that finds Homer, he of the iron stomach and insatiable appetite, filing a lawsuit against The Frying Dutchman when he’s hauled out of the eatery against his will after consuming all of the restaurant’s shrimp (plus two plastic lobsters)."

Adjective
  1. 1
    discouraging by hindering wordnet
  2. 2
    preventing realization or attainment of a desire wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
discouragingbafflingbootlessdefeatingdisconcertingdiscouraging

Example

More examples

"It's very frustrating to try to find your glasses when you can't see anything without glasses."

Etymology

From frustrate + -ing.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.