schlechtmachen
German, verb
schlechtmachen is spelled S-C-H-L-E-C-H-T-M-A-C-H-E-N (14 letters) and appears about once in every 18 million words in written German, the 238,212th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schlechtmachen is a German verb meaning “to badmouth” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schlechtmachen is a different word: “gerund of schlechtmachen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Negatives, Unwahres oder Ähnliches über etwas/jemanden sagen (und so eine Schädigung dessen öffentlichen…”.
What does schlechtmachen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to badmouth
- 2
to spoil, ruin something for someone by overcriticizing
noun
- 1
neutergerund of schlechtmachen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Negatives, Unwahres oder Ähnliches über etwas/jemanden sagen (und so eine Schädigung dessen öffentlichen Ansehens/Rufes herbeiführen)
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 schlechtmachen
- macht schlecht present singular third-person
- machte schlecht past
- schlechtgemacht participle past
- haben auxiliary
- schlechtmachend participle present
- schlechtzumachen infinitive infinitive-zu
- mache schlecht first-person indicative present
- machen schlecht first-person indicative plural
- machst schlecht indicative present second-person
- machest schlecht second-person singular subjunctive
- machet schlecht plural second-person subjunctive
- machten schlecht first-person indicative plural
- machtest schlecht indicative preterite second-person
- machtet schlecht indicative plural preterite
- mach schlecht! imperative singular
- mache schlecht! imperative singular
- macht schlecht! imperative plural
- schlechtgemacht haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schlechtmachen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schlechtmachen in German?
schlechtmachen appears about once in every 18 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).