außerstande
[aʊ̯sɐˈʃtandə]
The verdict
“außerstande” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nicht in der Lage, nicht fähig, etwas zu tun
Corpus desk
Index DE-au-erstande · außerstande · German
außerstande · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | außerstande |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | [aʊ̯sɐˈʃtandə] |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „außerstande“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
außerstande is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed [aʊ̯sɐˈʃtandə]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "nicht in der Lage, nicht fähig, etwas zu tun".
Zero misspellings are on record for außerstande in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is außerstande, spelled A-U-S-S-E-R-S-T-A-N-D-E.
Definition
- 1nicht in der Lage, nicht fähig, etwas zu tun
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how außerstande appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Ich sah mich außerstande, den Termin einzuhalten.
Der alte Mann war außerstande, auch nur einen Schritt weiter zu gehen.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.