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 of frustrating

• 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

For years, one of the most frustrating limits inside the Google ecosystem was simple but painful. —Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 3 Jan. 2026

Minnesota had dropped three of its last four games coming into Saturday, including perhaps the Timberwolves' most frustrating loss of the season — a 126-102 defeat on Wednesday in Atlanta. —CBS News, 3 Jan. 2026

Sunderland are precisely the kind of team who are capable of frustrating them. —Oliver Kay, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2026

Mendoza contributed to the strong Indiana run game, frustrating the gashed Tide defense. —Anthony Solorzano, Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1837, 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