flustered

adjective

flus·​tered ˈflə-stərd 

: in a state of agitated confusion

She became so flustered that she'd … kept repeating, "Gosh, I can't even think …" Later she confided, "I was almost in tears right after doing those numbers."

—Stephen S. Hall

The flustered lady gave me a blank stare and said, "That's not Mr. Franklin. The guard said Mr. Franklin was on his way up."

—Dick Francis

… the oxen … seemed more patient and less flustered than their masters …

—Deborah Straw

flusteredly adverb

"Everything's under control, I think!" she says a little flusteredly. "We had a problem with the table posies, but fingers crossed, they should be on their way … ."

—Sophie Kinsella

Examples of flustered in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

From Donna Moss on The West Wing, who exists at times to be an audience surrogate to whom other characters can explain complex things, to MacKenzie McHale on The Newsroom, an accomplished war journalist who apparently gets flustered using her email, the women in his scripts are rarely well rounded. —Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2024

Swarms of Kodak-wielding shutterbugs descended on American cities, thrusting their lenses in front of flustered strangers. —Ben Tarnoff, The New Yorker, 5 Oct. 2024

Walz's allies, meanwhile, hope the Democrat will focus on the threat of another Trump presidency, avoid getting flustered and show off his folksy charm. —Sophia Cai, Axios, 1 Oct. 2024

During an interview with Jones, football fans believed Adams appeared flustered and fumbled her words, and equated her apparent nervousness to attraction. —Danielle Jennings, Peoplemag, 20 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

see fluster entry 1

First Known Use

1743, in the meaning defined above