Frustrating

How to spell frustrating

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce frustrating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does frustrating mean?

1. adjectiveCausing annoyance or irritation because progress or success is being prevented.

Frustrating in a sentence

• The slow internet connection was incredibly frustrating during the video call.

• Losing the file just before the deadline was deeply frustrating.

Where does frustrating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb frustrari, meaning 'to deceive, disappoint, or render vain', which was itself built on the adverb frustra, meaning 'in vain' or 'to no purpose'. The English verb 'frustrate' appeared in the fifteenth century with the sense of preventing something from succeeding, and the participial adjective 'frustrating' developed naturally to describe whatever causes that feeling of thwarted effort. The original Latin idea was less about emotion and more about wasted action: doing something that comes to nothing. Over time the modern emotional sense, the irritation of being blocked, came to dominate. The single 's' and double 't' often catch writers out, but remembering the Latin frustra, 'in vain', helps fix the shape in mind.

How the word is built

• frustrat- (from Latin frustrari: to deceive, thwart)
• -ing (adjective/participle suffix)