knebeln
German, verb/ˈkneːbəln/
knebeln is spelled K-N-E-B-E-L-N (7 letters) and appears about once in every 4 million words in written German, the 99,595th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Knebeln is a German verb meaning “to gag (tie a piece of cloth around someone’s mouth to prevent them from shouting)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemandem etwas mit Gewalt in den oder vor den Mund schieben und befestigen, um ihn am Schreien zu hindern”.
What does knebeln mean in English?
verb
- 1
to gag (tie a piece of cloth around someone’s mouth to prevent them from shouting)
- 2
to hog-tie (tie up someone’s arms and legs to prevent them from moving)
- 3
to hog-tie; to render helpless; to oppress; to enslave
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. jemandem etwas mit Gewalt in den oder vor den Mund schieben und befestigen, um ihn am Schreien zu hindern 2. Entwicklung drosseln oder bremsen
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 knebeln
- knebelt present singular third-person
- knebelte past
- geknebelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- knebelnd participle present
- kneble first-person indicative present
- knebele first-person indicative present
- knebel first-person indicative present
- knebelst indicative present second-person
- knebelest second-person singular subjunctive
- kneblest second-person singular subjunctive
- knebelet plural second-person subjunctive
- kneblet plural second-person subjunctive
- knebelten first-person indicative plural
- knebeltest indicative preterite second-person
- knebeltet indicative plural preterite
- knebele! imperative singular
- knebelt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce knebeln?
- /ˈkneːbəln/
- [ˈkneːbl̩n]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to knebeln
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is knebeln in German?
knebeln 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).