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Frustrate vs Tantalize - What's the difference?

frustrate | tantalize | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between frustrate and tantalize

is that frustrate is to cause stress or panic while tantalize is to bait (someone) by showing something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied.

As an adjective frustrate

is vain; ineffectual; useless; nugatory.

frustrate

English

Verb

(frustrat)
  • To disappoint or defeat; to vex by depriving of something expected or desired.
  • It frustrates me to do all this work and then lose it all.
  • To hinder or thwart.
  • My clumsy fingers frustrate my typing efforts.
  • To cause stress or panic
  • This test frustrates me because if I fail, it'll destroy my grade.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • vain; ineffectual; useless; nugatory
  • * Shakespeare
  • Our frustrate search.

    tantalize

    English

    Verb

    (tantaliz)
  • to tease (someone) by offering something desirable but keeping it out of reach
  • to bait (someone) by showing something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied
  • Quotations

    * 1880 — *: They could not bear to be tantalized nor tortured by the splendid delusion. * 1884 — , section 22 *: All pleasures palled upon me; all sights tantalized and tempted me to outspoken treason, because I could not but compare what I saw in Two Dimensions with what it really was if seen in Three, and could hardly refrain from making my comparisons aloud. * 1895 — , Ch. XV *: He had been possessed of much fear of his friend, for he saw how easily questionings could make holes in his feelings. Lately, he had assured himself that the altered comrade would not tantalize him with a persistent curiosity, but he felt certain that during the first period of leisure his friend would ask him to relate his adventures of the previous day. * *: “It was—simply amazing,” she repeated abstractedly. “But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.” * 1936 — , Ch. IX *: As we threaded our dim way through the labyrinth with the aid of map and compass ... we were repeatedly tantalized by the sculptured walls along our route. ... If we had had more films, we would certainly have paused briefly to photograph certain bas-reliefs, but time-consuming hand-copying was clearly out of the question.