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fluster

UK/ˈflʌstə/US/ˈflʌstəɹ/
verbB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,411 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: flustered

To fluster is to make somebody nervous and confused. Easily flustered, don't fluster her, flustered by the question.

It is temporary and social — you are flustered in front of people, and it passes. The passive is far commoner than the active. The word probably came from a Scandinavian source and first meant to be agitated by drink.

Definitions of fluster

  1. 1verbflusterTo make somebody nervous and confused.B2+

    “The interviewer's quick questions flustered her, and she started mixing up her words.”

fluster is a confusing.

Where it comes from

Probably from a Scandinavian source; it first meant to be agitated, sometimes by drink.

  1. Middle English

    *flostren

  2. English, today

    fluster

Built from

  • flostrynge · Middle English — agitation; blustering

The verb is probably from Middle English flostren (implied in flostring, flostrynge (“agitation; blustering”)) from a Scandinavian (gmq -) language; compare Icelandic flaustra (“to bustle”), flaustr (“a bustle; a hurry”). Compare Old English flustrian (“to weave, plait, braid”). The noun is derived from the verb.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

Related words

the flostrynge family

flustered

fluster — used about once every 54,060 pages · #14,411 · point at the bar for the others