Frustrate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /fɹʌˈstɹeɪt/

Definitions

1. To hinder progress by causing feelings of dissatisfaction and annoyance due to unmet expectations or blocked efforts
2. To obstruct an intended outcome while simultaneously evoking feelings of irritation and discontent in others
3. To cause a plan or effort to fail or be ineffective ; to evoke emotions of irritation or disappointment in someone

Etymology: The verb descends from Latin "frustra," meaning "in vain" or "for nothing," and its sense of thwarting someone's plans grew straight out of that idea. The Latin verb "frustro" meant "to deceive" or "to make vain," so to frustrate something was to make it come to nothing. The past participle "frustratus" passed into Middle English as "frustraten," meaning to prevent, disappoint, or render useless, and English kept that sense of defeating an effort rather than simply annoying a person. Compare the French "frustrer," which took the same Latin root and kept a similar sense of cheating someone out of something due to them. The English verb is built on that participle with the suffix "-ate," a common way of forming verbs in English from Latin stems.

Synonyms: thwart, prevent, disappoint

Antonyms: assist, help, support