foil

Compared meaning: stop someone from achieving a goal or plan (verb).

比较义项：阻止某人达成目标或计划（动词）。

• frustrate

  Broadest use; often describes ongoing, indirect or impersonal obstacles (delays, bad luck) blocking someone's general efforts or goals, not just one specific plot; also implies causing frustration.

  用法最宽泛：常描述持续性、间接或非人为的障碍（如延误、运气不好）阻碍某人整体的努力或目标，而非针对某个具体阴谋；也隐含使人感到沮丧、失望。

  Traffic jams often frustrate commuters trying to get to work on time.

  交通拥堵常常令通勤者无法准时到达工作地点，令人沮丧。

• thwart

  More formal and literary; usually means someone or something deliberately prevents a specific plan, ambition or attempt from succeeding; common in the passive voice.

  语气较正式、书面化：通常指某人或某种力量有意阻止一个具体的计划、抱负或企图得逞；常用被动语态。

  The senator's own party thwarted his plan to run for president.

  这位参议员本党内部人士阻挠了他竞选总统的计划。

• foil 本词

  Strongly collocates with stopping crimes or plots (robbery, attack, escape) at a critical or last moment, often through quick thinking or luck; a dramatic, news-style word.

  常与阻止犯罪或阴谋（抢劫、袭击、逃跑）搭配，强调在关键或最后时刻挫败对方，往往靠机智或运气，语气带有戏剧性、新闻报道色彩。

  A sharp-eyed cashier managed to foil the shoplifter's attempt to steal jewelry.

  一位眼尖的收银员成功挫败了这名商店扒手偷窃珠宝的企图。

These three words mean to stop someone's plan. Frustrate is broad, often about indirect problems like delays. Thwart is formal, meaning someone deliberately blocks a specific plan. Foil often means stopping a crime or plot at the last moment, in a dramatic news style.

这三个词在“阻止某人达成计划”这一意义上非常接近，但语气和使用场景不同：frustrate 语气较为宽泛，常指抽象或非人为因素造成的阻碍；thwart 语气较正式，多指有意针对某人具体计划的阻挠；foil 则常用于关键时刻挫败犯罪或阴谋，带有新闻叙事色彩。