widerstreben
German, verb
widerstreben is spelled W-I-D-E-R-S-T-R-E-B-E-N (12 letters) and appears about once in every 6 million words in written German, the 127,251st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Widerstreben is a German verb meaning “[with dative] to be reluctant to, to show some reluctance, to go against the grain with someone (contrary to one's nature)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Widerstreben is a different word: “gerund of widerstreben”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine Ablehnung/Widerstand spüren, etwas zu tun, weil dies der inneren Überzeugung, den eigenen Wertmaßstäben…”.
What does widerstreben mean in English?
verb
- 1
[with dative] to be reluctant to, to show some reluctance, to go against the grain with someone (contrary to one's nature)
Es widerstrebte ihm, den Anweisungen Folge zu leisten.
- 2
to be opposed to, to resist, to go against
noun
- 1
neutergerund of widerstreben
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. eine Ablehnung/Widerstand spüren, etwas zu tun, weil dies der inneren Überzeugung, den eigenen Wertmaßstäben oder Zielen widerspricht 2. sich nicht fügen wollen, sich widersetzen
noun: 1. relativ heftige Ablehnung, innerliche Ablehnung
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 widerstreben
- widerstrebt present singular third-person
- widerstrebte past
- haben auxiliary
- widerstrebend participle present
- widerstrebe first-person indicative present
- widerstrebst indicative present second-person
- widerstrebest second-person singular subjunctive
- widerstrebet plural second-person subjunctive
- widerstrebten first-person indicative plural
- widerstrebtest indicative preterite second-person
- widerstrebtet indicative plural preterite
- widerstreb imperative second-person singular
- habe widerstrebt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben widerstrebt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- widerstreb! imperative singular
- widerstrebe! imperative singular
- widerstrebt! imperative plural
- widerstrebt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to widerstreben
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is widerstreben in German?
widerstreben appears about once in every 6 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).