unterbleiben

[ˌʊntɐˈblaɪ̯bn̩]

/[ˌʊntɐˈblaɪ̯bn̩]/ verb

The verdict

“unterbleiben” is uncommon German (frequency #68,799 among 2,159 “U” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,799
frequency rank, German
2,159
“U” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nicht passieren, (mit Absicht) nicht geschehen lassen

Corpus desk

Index DE-unterbleiben · unterbleiben · German

unterbleiben · rank #68,799 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,799
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,159
  • PHOTO-FINISH unspezifisch

Nearest frequency peer: unspezifisch (-1 rank slots)

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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „unterbleiben“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „unterbleiben“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for unterbleiben
PropertyValue
Headwordunterbleiben
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˌʊntɐˈblaɪ̯bn̩]
Letters12
Frequency rank#68,799
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „unterbleiben“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).unterbleibenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „unspezifisch“ (#68,798), „unterboten“ (#68,800), „unterbrochene“ (#68,801). Unter 2,159 „U“-Lemmata liegt „unterbleiben“ bei #68,799. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

unterbleiben is uncommon German at frequency #68,799 among 2,159 “U” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˌʊntɐˈblaɪ̯bn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "nicht passieren, (mit Absicht) nicht geschehen lassen".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for unterbleiben, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is unterbleiben, spelled U-N-T-E-R-B-L-E-I-B-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    nicht passieren, (mit Absicht) nicht geschehen lassen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how unterbleiben appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Eine nähere Untersuchung des Vorfalles unterblieb.
  2. „Die Verteilung von Vergünstigungen nach persönlichen Bekanntschaften oder Sympathien muß unterbleiben.“

Antonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "unterbleiben"?
"unterbleiben" is spelled U-N-T-E-R-B-L-E-I-B-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˌʊntɐˈblaɪ̯bn̩].
What does "unterbleiben" mean?
As a verb, "unterbleiben" means: nicht passieren, (mit Absicht) nicht geschehen lassen
How do you pronounce "unterbleiben"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "unterbleiben" is [ˌʊntɐˈblaɪ̯bn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "unterbleiben" come from?
"unterbleiben" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "unterbleiben", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list