verzweifeln

See also: Verzweifeln

German

Etymology

From Middle High German verzwīveln (12th century), from Old High German firzwīvalen, firzwīfalen. By surface analysis, ver- +‎ zweifeln (to doubt). Compare Dutch vertwijfelen, Swedish förtvivla, etc.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /feʁˈtsvaɪ̯fəln/, [fɐˈt͡sʋaɪ̯.fl̩n], [fɛɐ̯-], [-fəln]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ver‧zwei‧feln

Verb

verzweifeln (weak, third-person singular present verzweifelt, past tense verzweifelte, past participle verzweifelt, auxiliary sein)

  1. (intransitive) to despair [with an (+ dative) ‘over something’]
    Die Hauptsache ist, nicht zu verzweifeln.
    The main thing is not to despair.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading