flustered

adjective

flus·​tered ˈflə-stərd 

: in a state of agitated confusion

She became so flustered that she'd … kept repeating, "Gosh, I can't even think …" Later she confided, "I was almost in tears right after doing those numbers."

—Stephen S. Hall

The flustered lady gave me a blank stare and said, "That's not Mr. Franklin. The guard said Mr. Franklin was on his way up."

—Dick Francis

… the oxen … seemed more patient and less flustered than their masters …

—Deborah Straw

flusteredly adverb

"Everything's under control, I think!" she says a little flusteredly. "We had a problem with the table posies, but fingers crossed, they should be on their way … ."

—Sophie Kinsella

Examples of flustered in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

During a recent performance, the show, meant to run almost two hours without intermission, was stopped twice for about five minutes so that ushers could attend to flustered theatergoers. —Alex Marshall, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2025

Some were too flustered to articulate their thoughts beyond a deep gratitude for God and Trump. —Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 10 Feb. 2025

McIlroy credited his ability not to get flustered with himself and to strategically work his way around an iconic course where Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and Tiger Woods have won the U.S. Open. —Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 3 Feb. 2025

McIlroy credited his ability not to get flustered with himself and to strategically work his way around an iconic course where Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods have won the U.S. Open. —Cam Inman, Orlando Sentinel, 3 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

see fluster entry 1

First Known Use

1743, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for flustered

• blustered
• bustard
• clustered
• custard
• mustard
• mustered