entgegenhalten
German, verb
entgegenhalten is spelled E-N-T-G-E-G-E-N-H-A-L-T-E-N (14 letters) and appears about once in every 4 million words in written German, the 94,067th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Entgegenhalten is a German verb meaning “to hold out something to someone” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Entgegenhalten is a different word: “gerund of entgegenhalten”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “als abweichende Meinung, Antwort zu etwas Gesagtem präsentieren”.
What does entgegenhalten mean in English?
verb
- 1
to hold out something to someone
- 2
to counter, to retort
noun
- 1
neutergerund of entgegenhalten
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. als abweichende Meinung, Antwort zu etwas Gesagtem präsentieren 2. in Richtung auf ein Gegenüber hinhalten
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 entgegenhalten
- hält entgegen present singular third-person
- hielt entgegen past
- entgegengehalten participle past
- haben auxiliary
- 7 strong
- entgegenhaltend participle present
- entgegenzuhalten infinitive infinitive-zu
- halte entgegen first-person indicative present
- halten entgegen first-person indicative plural
- hältst entgegen indicative present second-person
- haltet entgegen indicative plural present
- haltest entgegen second-person singular subjunctive
- hielten entgegen first-person indicative plural
- hielte entgegen first-person singular subjunctive
- hieltest entgegen indicative preterite second-person
- hieltst entgegen indicative preterite second-person
- hieltet entgegen indicative plural preterite
- halte entgegen! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is entgegenhalten in German?
entgegenhalten appears about once in every 4 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).