frustration

US/fɹʌsˈtɹeɪ.ʃən/

nounB23 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,853 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: frustrations, frustrate, frustrated, frustrating

Frustration is what builds when you keep trying and it keeps not working. The key that will not turn, the form that will not submit, the person who will not answer.

It is a hot feeling rather than a sad one, and it needs an obstacle: you are frustrated by something, not simply frustrated. The verb frustrate can also mean to defeat a plan — police frustrated the attempt — which sounds odd until you see it is the same idea from the other side. Note the useful phrase in frustration: he kicked the machine in frustration.

Definitions of frustration

1nounfrustrationThe angry, helpless feeling of being blocked from what you are trying to do.B2~82%
“She slammed the drawer shut in frustration.”
synonyms: exasperation, annoyance
2nouncausesSomething that causes that feeling.B2~2%
“The traffic is the great frustration of living here.”
3noundefeatingThe blocking or defeating of a plan.C1~16%
“The frustration of the takeover cost them a year.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 120 sentences found in the wild and placed 107 of them on a sense (13 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Remember it

fru-STRATION → stuck at the STATION

Four hours at the station. Every train cancelled, nobody at the desk, and the board just blinks.

hooks ontostation

Where it comes from

From Latin frustra, in vain. Frustration is exactly the feeling of doing something in vain, over and over, and being unable to stop trying.

Latin
frūstrātiō — disappointment
English, today
frustration

Built from

frūstrā · Latin — in vain

From Latin frūstrātiō (“disappointment”), related to frūstrā (“in vain”). by surface analysis, frustrate + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Feelings & Character, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 23 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

frustration in the wild

The term frustration, in the context of magnetic systems, was introduced by Gerard Toulouse in 1977.
Geometrical frustration
There are two types of frustration: internal and external.
Frustration
The crying can result in frustration of the parents, depression following delivery, excess visits to the doctor, and child abuse.
Baby colic
In terms of contract law, the case addresses questions of frustration, construction and the parol evidence rule.
Codelfa Construction Pty Ltd v State Rail Authority of NSW
In the letter, Gates expressed frustration with most computer hobbyists who were using his company's Altair BASIC software without having paid for it.
An Open Letter to Hobbyists

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

Definitions of frustration

1nounfrustrationThe angry, helpless feeling of being blocked from what you are trying to do.B2~82%

“She slammed the drawer shut in frustration.”

synonyms: exasperation, annoyance

2nouncausesSomething that causes that feeling.B2~2%

“The traffic is the great frustration of living here.”

3noundefeatingThe blocking or defeating of a plan.C1~16%

“The frustration of the takeover cost them a year.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 120 sentences found in the wild and placed 107 of them on a sense (13 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.