Frustration

How to spell frustration

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce frustration

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does frustration mean?

1. nounThe feeling of annoyance or helplessness that arises when you are prevented from doing or achieving something.

Frustration in a sentence

• His frustration grew as the printer jammed for the third time before the meeting.

• The long delay at the airport caused real frustration among the waiting passengers.

Where does frustration come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb frustrare, meaning 'to deceive, to disappoint, or to make an effort come to nothing', which was itself built on the adverb frustra, meaning 'in vain' or 'for no purpose'. The Romans formed the noun frustratio to describe the act of thwarting someone or the resulting sense of pointless effort. English took the word in during the early 1500s, initially with the sense of defeating or nullifying a plan, and only later did it settle into its modern emotional meaning of the irritation you feel when blocked or thwarted. The same frustra root still lurks in the slightly more formal verb 'frustrate', and noticing the double meaning (to block a plan, and to feel annoyed) can help explain why the noun covers both. The spelling stays close to the Latin, so the tricky middle cluster 'str' and the unstressed second vowel are the parts that trip writers up.

How the word is built

• frustr- (from Latin frustra: in vain, to no purpose)
• -ation (noun suffix indicating a state or action)