frustrating

adjective

frus·​trat·​ing ˈfrə-ˌstrā-tiŋ 

: causing feelings of anger and annoyance : tending to produce or characterized by frustration

a frustrating delay

a very frustrating experience

Mischel concludes that having the willpower to wait isn't about being stoic. It's about learning techniques that make waiting less frustrating.

—Pamela Druckerman

frustratingly adverb

a frustratingly slow process

The book is sprawling and self-indulgent. Most frustratingly, it is almost entirely devoid of serious military analysis.

—Hew Strachan

Synonyms

• annoying
• irritating
• disturbing

Examples of frustrating in a Sentence

All these delays have been very frustrating.

these daily traffic jams are frustrating

Recent Examples on the Web

Nearly every aspiring interface designer believed the way we were forced to interact with computers was limiting and frustrating, but one man in particular felt the emphasis on design itself missed the forest for the trees. —Cameron Kaiser, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025

Dead zones in your house can be frustrating, especially when streaming or gaming, but the TP-Link RE715X does a solid job fixing that. —Shubham Yewale, PC Magazine, 11 Sep. 2025

The exchange is indicative of this odd, frustrating, occasionally intriguing project, which pads out scarce but real nuggets of insight with leading questions and endless clips. —Alison Herman, Variety, 10 Sep. 2025

This environment can be frustrating for business owners and have a real impact on revenue and profitability. —Jeff Kiesel, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for frustrating

• abating
• awaiting
• berating
• castrating
• chelating
• collating
• conflating
• creating
• debating
• deflating
• derating
• dictating

Kids Definition

frustrating

adjective

: producing frustration

a frustrating delay

frustratingly adverb