(ˌ)frəˈstrāshən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English frustracioun, from Latin frustration-, frustratio deception, disappointment, frustration, from frustratus + -ion-, -io -ion
1.
a. : the act of frustrating
will make parliamentary alliances … with a view to obstruction and frustration — A.E.Stevenson b. 1900
the frustration of creative instinct is a notorious evil of the machine age — Times Literary Supplement
b.
(1) : the condition or an instance of being frustrated in some purpose : disappointment , defeat
cruel frustrations had eaten away that confidence — Oscar Handlin
you've never experienced frustration until you watch a one-channel television set — Goodman Ace
life became for him a series of great frustrations
the life of the admiral closed on a note of frustration — S.E.Morison
(2) : a deep chronic sense or condition of insecurity, discouragement, and dissatisfaction arising from thwarted desires, inner conflicts, or other unresolved problems
frustration brought about by the constant inner conflict between the desire to possess and the yearning to renounce — Orient Book World
the child seeks to retaliate for frustration by biting — G.S.Blum
loneliness and frustration : those are two constant themes in American literature — Malcolm Cowley
the gusto and excitement concealed a certain ominous shallowness and frustration — Richard Watts
a lifelong frustration — H.S.Canby
c. : something that frustrates
as a work of serious reference the volume is full of frustrations — Saturday Review
escape lodges, women's clubs, bridge clubs, and other modern frustrations — Current Biography
postwar Britain was a frustration … to the advertising man — E.S.Turner
2. : a doctrine in the law of contracts whereby courts depart from the general rule that impossibility does not excuse performance and does not terminate contracts and instead adjust equitably conflicting rights as if the original state of affairs had continued although the value of an expected performance has been destroyed by fortuitous circumstances which the parties were not negligent in failing to guard against or by a radical change in the state of affairs (as war, government orders, cancellation of unique events) which the parties were not bound to have foreseen