verharmlosen
German, verb
verharmlosen is spelled V-E-R-H-A-R-M-L-O-S-E-N (12 letters) and appears 1.3 times per million words in written German, the 33,501st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Verharmlosen is a German verb meaning “to play down” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Verharmlosen is a different word: “gerund of verharmlosen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “als weniger gefährlich darstellen, als etwas aufgrund der sachlichen Fakten/Argumente ist”.
What does verharmlosen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to play down
- 2
to trivialise
noun
- 1
neutergerund of verharmlosen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. als weniger gefährlich darstellen, als etwas aufgrund der sachlichen Fakten/Argumente ist
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 verharmlosen
- verharmlost present singular third-person
- verharmloste past
- haben auxiliary
- verharmlosend participle present
- verharmlose first-person indicative present
- verharmlosest second-person singular subjunctive
- verharmloset plural second-person subjunctive
- verharmlosten first-person indicative plural
- verharmlostest indicative preterite second-person
- verharmlostet indicative plural preterite
- verharmlos imperative second-person singular
- habe verharmlost first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben verharmlost first-person indicative multiword-construction
- verharmlos! imperative singular
- verharmlose! imperative singular
- verharmlost! imperative plural
- verharmlost haben active infinitive perfect
- verharmlost werden processual-passive infinitive present
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to verharmlosen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is verharmlosen in German?
verharmlosen appears 1.3 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).