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versagen. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
versagen, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
versagen in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
versagen you have here. The definition of the word
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versagen, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
German
Etymology
From Middle High German versagen, virsagen, vorsagen, fersagen, from Old High German firsagen, firsagēn (“to deny, refuse, excuse”), from Proto-West Germanic *frasaggjan, equivalent to ver- + sagen. Cognate with English forsay, Dutch verzeggen (“to deny, forbid”), German Low German verseggen (“to refuse, deny”), Swedish försäga (“to misspeak, say too much”).
Pronunciation
Verb
versagen (weak, third-person singular present versagt, past tense versagte, past participle versagt, auxiliary haben)
- (intransitive) to fail, to give out, to break down
- Meine Stimme versagt. ― My voice is failing me.
- Du hast auf ganzer Linie versagt! ― You have failed across the board!
- Und dann hat der Motor versagt. ― And then the engine broke down.
2024 July 16, Tabea Rößner, “Wenn Finanzämter die Macht haben”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz, →ISSN:Denn gemeinnützige Journalismusprojekte stehen nicht in Konkurrenz zu klassischen Medienangeboten, sondern sollen sie ergänzen und dort die Lücken schließen, wo der Markt versagt.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (ditransitive, higher register) to refuse; to deny
- Synonym: absprechen
- Man versagt mir Zugang zu den Akten. ― I am denied access to the files.
Conjugation
Conjugation of
versagen (
weak, auxiliary
haben)
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Composed forms of
versagen (
weak, auxiliary
haben)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “versagen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “versagen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “versagen” in Duden online
- “versagen” in OpenThesaurus.de