Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To prevent (someone) from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart.
  • transitive verb To cause feelings of discouragement, annoyance, or lack of fulfillment in.
  • transitive verb To prevent from coming to fruition or fulfillment; render ineffectual.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make of no avail; bring to nothing; prevent from taking effect or attaining fulfilment; defeat; disappoint; balk: as, to frustrate a plan, design, or attempt; to frustrate the will or purpose.
  • To make null; nullify; render of no effect: as, to frustrate a conveyance or deed.
  • To defeat the desire or purpose of; cause to be balked or disappointed; thwart.
  • Synonyms Frustrate, Foil, Thwart, Baffle, Balk, are strong words, expressing the complete defeat of any plan or endeavor. Frustrate, to make vain, cause to be in vain, bring to naught. Foil, to stop, render useless. (Foil is not thought to be derived from the use of a foil in fencing, but is associated with it in many minds, and in meaning corresponds with the turning aside of a sword by the address of a fencer.) Thwart, literally, to stop by a bar or barrier, cross effectively, defeat. Baffe, to check at all points or completely and promptly, so that one is at a loss what to do. Balk, to stop in a course, make unable to proceed in a given direction. Perhaps baffle expresses most of confusion of mind or bewilderment, and balk most of annoyance or vexation.
  • noun A weak contraction of the ventricle of the heart, the impulse of which is imperceptible at the wrist, giving the impression of intermittent pulsations.
  • Vain; ineffectual; useless; unprofitable; null; void; of no effect.
  • Defeated.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Vain; ineffectual; useless; unprofitable; null; voil; nugatory; of no effect.
  • transitive verb To bring to nothing; to prevent from attaining a purpose; to disappoint; to defeat; to baffle
  • transitive verb To make null; to nullifly; to render invalid or of no effect.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To disappoint or defeat; to vex by depriving of something expected or desired.
  • verb To hinder or thwart.
  • verb To cause stress or panic
  • adjective vain; ineffectual; useless; nugatory

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
  • verb treat cruelly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English frustraten, from Latin frūstrārī, frūstrāt-, from frūstrā, in vain.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin frustro.

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Examples

Comments

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  • verb: hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of

    I thought I would finish writing the paper by lunchtime, but a number of urgent interruptions served to frustrate my plan.

    October 19, 2016