antreiben
German, verb
antreiben is spelled A-N-T-R-E-I-B-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 42,412th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Antreiben is a German verb meaning “to drive; to drive on; to propel” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Antreiben is a different word: “gerund of antreiben”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemanden dazu motivieren, etwas zu tun”.
What does antreiben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to drive; to drive on; to propel
- 2
to incite, to impel
noun
- 1
neutergerund of antreiben
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. jemanden dazu motivieren, etwas zu tun 2. etwas als Energiequelle dienen, etwas in Bewegung versetzen 3. von der Strömung an Land gespült werden
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of antreiben
- treibt an present singular third-person
- trieb an past
- angetrieben participle past
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- 1 strong
- haben or sein auxiliary
- antreibend participle present
- anzutreiben infinitive infinitive-zu
- treibe an first-person indicative present
- treiben an first-person indicative plural
- treibst an indicative present second-person
- treibest an second-person singular subjunctive
- treibet an plural second-person subjunctive
- trieben an first-person indicative plural
- triebe an first-person formal rare
- triebst an indicative preterite second-person
- triebt an indicative plural preterite
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to antreiben
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is antreiben in German?
antreiben appears about once in every 1 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).