versagen
German, verb
versagen is spelled V-E-R-S-A-G-E-N (8 letters) and appears 12 times per million words in written German, the 6,059th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Versagen is a German verb meaning “to fail, to give out, to break down” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Versagen is a different word: “failure”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “nicht so funktionieren, wie es geplant war oder üblich ist”.
What does versagen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to fail, to give out, to break down
Meine Stimme versagt.
- 2
to refuse; to deny
Man versagt mir Zugang zu den Akten.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of versagen
- 2
neuterfailure
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. nicht so funktionieren, wie es geplant war oder üblich ist 2. jemandem oder sich selbst etwas nicht gönnen/geben
noun: 1. Scheitern bei einem gesetzten Ziel, einer gesetzten Aufgabe 2. Ausfall von einer Firma
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 versagen
- versagt present singular third-person
- versagte past
- haben auxiliary
- versagend participle present
- versage first-person indicative present
- versagst indicative present second-person
- versagest second-person singular subjunctive
- versaget plural second-person subjunctive
- versagten first-person indicative plural
- versagtest indicative preterite second-person
- versagtet indicative plural preterite
- versag imperative second-person singular
- habe versagt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben versagt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- versage! imperative singular
- versag! imperative singular
- versagt! imperative plural
- versagt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to versagen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is versagen in German?
versagen appears 12 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).