flustering
Syllables: flust·er·ingUK/ˈflʌstəɹɪŋ/
flustering adjective: agitated, confusing. Also the present participle and gerund of fluster.
Adjective
flustering (comparative more flustering, superlative most flustering)
- Agitated, confusing.
- To me it seems, Mabel, that whenever a thing is really grand and potent, it has a quiet majesty about it, that is altogether unlike the frothy and flustering manner of smaller matters, and so it was with them rapids.1840, [James Fenimore Cooper], The Pathfinder: Or, The Inland Sea. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, →OCLC, page 53
- There is always a flustering breeze in the air and a perturbation generally through the county when they come or go, […]1873 May 1 – December 22 (date written), Anthony Trollope, The Way We Live Now. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published June 1875, →OCLC
- Boasting or bragging noisily; blustering, swaggering.
- And the Apoſtle [Paul] ſeems here moſt peculiarly to have directed this Encomium of the Gospel, as a Defiance to the Philoſophers of his Time, the Fluſtring Vain-glorious Greeks, vvho pretended ſo much to magnify, and even Adore the VViſdom they profeſſed, […]1694 May 8 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar); first published 1698, Robert South, “Christianity Mysterious, and the Wisdom of God in Making it so, Proved in a Sermon Preached at Westminster-Abbey...
Also used as
flustering is also the present participle and gerund of fluster.
Examples of flustering in a sentence
- Although at times my prac experiences were flustering and frustrating, I have gained many new insights into catering for the individual needs of children.1997, Rosemary Perry, Teaching Practice: A Guide for Early Childhood Students, Routledge, page 57:
- There is nothing more flustering than to wrestle with an unfamiliar piece of equipment in the presence of a class!2004, Geoffrey Petty, Teaching Today: A Practical Guide, page 361:
- She almost forgot Toby while she was bathed in this flustering brilliance of light and noise.2007, Frank Swinnerton, Coquette, READ BOOKS, page 39:
Forms of flustering
| comparative | more flustering |
|---|---|
| superlative | most flustering |
Origin of flustering
From fluster + -ing.
Words formed from flustering
- flusteringly
Questions about flustering
- What does flustering mean?
- Flustering means agitated, confusing.
- How do you use flustering in a sentence?
- Although at times my prac experiences were flustering and frustrating, I have gained many new insights into catering for the individual needs of children.
- What part of speech is flustering?
- Flustering is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce flustering?
- Flustering is pronounced /ˈflʌstəɹɪŋ/ (UK).
Words near flustering in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flustering (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “flustering.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flustering. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.