Befehlsnotstand
German, noun[bəˈfeːlsˌnoːtʃtant]
Befehlsnotstand is spelled B-E-F-E-H-L-S-N-O-T-S-T-A-N-D (15 letters) and appears about once in every 40 million words in written German, the 376,420th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Befehlsnotstand is a German masculine noun meaning “forcible coercion to obey unlawful orders (a legal situation in which someone can be absolved of responsibility for carrying out an illegal…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “Situation, in der ein Verhalten befohlen wird, das seinerseits gegen bestehende Gesetze verstößt”.
What does Befehlsnotstand mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculineforcible coercion to obey unlawful orders (a legal situation in which someone can be absolved of responsibility for carrying out an illegal act, including a war crime, because they were threatened with great bodily injury or death if they refused)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Situation, in der ein Verhalten befohlen wird, das seinerseits gegen bestehende Gesetze verstößt
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 Befehlsnotstand
- Befehlsnotstandes genitive
- Befehlsnotstands genitive
- Befehlsnotstände plural
- Befehlsnotstande dative singular
- Befehlsnotständen dative definite plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Befehlsnotstand?
- [bəˈfeːlsˌnoːtʃtant]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Befehlsnotstand in German?
Befehlsnotstand appears about once in every 40 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).