Flustered

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Feeling confused or agitated as a result of overwhelming emotions or stressful situations
2. Being in a state of distress and disarray due to pressure or sudden challenges
3. Experiencing a state of nervousness and confusion brought on by stress or unexpected events

Etymology: The word "fluster" began as a verb with a surprisingly physical sense. Its likely ancestor is a Middle English "flostren," which appears in the form "flostring" meaning agitation or blustering, and it probably came into English from a Scandinavian language. Icelandic offers a close relative in "flaustra," meaning to bustle or hurry, and "flaustr," a bustle or hurry. The idea is one of commotion: a person thrown into a flurry of activity rather than a person feeling a particular emotion. Older English may also have a distant link. Old English "flustrian" meant to weave, plait, or braid. Whether that verb is truly related is uncertain, but it is a striking possibility: a tangle of threads and a tangle of nerves would share a picture of things being worked over and knotted together. "Flustered" is simply the past tense and past participle of "fluster," so it carries the same history of hurry and agitation. The state it describes, that of being rattled into confusion, is the verb's original commotion turned inward.

Synonyms: agitated, confused, disconcerted, nervous, disturbed

Antonyms: calm, composed, collected