flustered
Americanadjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flustered
Explanation
To be flustered is to lose your cool. When you're flustered, you're embarrassed, agitated, or just confused. If your pants fell down in the middle of class while you were giving a presentation, you'd probably be flustered: highly embarrassed, out of breath, and a little freaked out. It's hard to concentrate when you're flustered — it's a distracting state of mind. Being flustered isn't quite as bad as being panicked, but it's close. People can also get flustered by good things, like if someone you had a crush on kissed you.
Vocabulary lists containing flustered
The Giver
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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The City of Ember
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When Barrett came into the shop, Hutchcroft says Barrett was flustered and told her she needed to someone to look after the dogs while she went to Harrods.
From BBC • Mar. 14, 2026
I found Hendler and Sony’s head of IT: grown men, experts in their fields, veterans who did not get flustered.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026
A flustered Davidson then asked the officers what they’ve learned from the meeting.
From Salon • Feb. 1, 2026
Anisimova belatedly won her first point of the match but Pegula comfortably held for 2-0, then had her flustered opponent under pressure once more.
From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026
The flustered Clarice stood beside me, her hand full of hair-pins, while I took them from her one by one, controlling the curls that had become fluffed in the box.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
