FRUSTRATE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Frustrate

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/frˈəstrˌeɪt/ Listen

verb

Frustrate v. t. (past & past part. frustrated; pres. part. frustrating)

To bring to nothing; to prevent from attaining a purpose; to disappoint; to defeat; to baffle; as, to frustrate a plan, design, or attempt; to frustrate the will or purpose. "Shall the adversary thus obtain His end and frustrate thine?"

To make null; to nullifly; to render invalid or of no effect; as, to frustrate a conveyance or deed.

Synonyms: To balk; thwart; foil; baffle; defeat.

adjective

Frustrate adj. Vain; ineffectual; useless; unprofitable; null; voil; nugatory; of no effect. "Our frustrate search."

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Etymology of 'Frustrate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Frustrate" Quotes from Famous Books

... a sharp look-out all the time and be on your guard to frustrate any murderous attack," said Jane, adding in a tone of weak obstinacy: "It's a dreadful situation to be in, with a mad butler dangling over you like the sword of What's-his-name, but I'm certainly not going ...

— Beasts and Super-Beasts • Saki

... not a literal term at all. It conceals nothing. Rather does it hold aloft in long-legged prominence, for the inspection of all who pass, what the owner has seen fit to leave behind. A heavy platform high enough from the ground to frustrate the investigations of animals is all that is required. Visual concealment is unnecessary, because in the North Country a cache is sacred. On it may depend the life of a man. He who leaves provisions must find them on his return, for he may reach ...

— The Forest • Stewart Edward White

... partner's reputation and credit thus under his power, and he was by no means disposed to deal gently with the prodigal son. That is to say, he was quite disinclined to let the family out of his clutches easily, or to consent to be silent and "frustrate the ends of justice" for anything else than an important equivalent. Mr Wentworth had much ado to restrain his temper while the wily attorney talked about his conscience; for the Curate was clear-sighted enough to perceive ...

— The Perpetual Curate • Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant

... like strangers coming about the house. Indeed he was given plainly to understand that the sooner he left, the better everyone would be pleased. This treatment was of course part of a scheme devised by Pearl's parents to frustrate any plans that Chan might have formed for seeing her. They were determined not to give their daughter to a man so old as he must be, and therefore they decided that an interview between the two must be prevented at ...

— Chinese Folk-Lore Tales • J. Macgowan

... preuailed if it had attempted to withstand or resist our ships, for the which cause it was set foorth, not onely to let and interrupt these our shippes of their purposed voiage, but al other that should attempt the like: yet chiefly to frustrate our voiage. For the king of Portugall was sinisterly informed, that our ships were armed to his castle of Mina in those parties, whereas ...

— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of - The English Nation, Vol. 11 • Richard Hakluyt

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