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 City of Ember
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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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.
Not while he’s flustered and frustrated — which you can’t spell without rust, though even Roberts admitted, “I don’t know how long you can use the rust thing, which I’ve certainly used.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
On Move 78, he wedged a white stone in the middle of AlphaGo’s position and flustered the machine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
If he looked flustered, he had just come from more than an hour batting in the nets.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
“Let me put on some clothes first,” she told the nurse, flustered.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
“Fine, Old French, maybe Latin or something,” she said, flustered.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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.
