zustreben
German, verb
zustreben is spelled Z-U-S-T-R-E-B-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 26 million words in written German, the 293,729th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zustreben is a German verb meaning “to head to, make for” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Zustreben is a different word: “gerund of zustreben”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich einem Ziel nähern (wollen)”.
What does zustreben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to head to, make for
noun
- 1
neutergerund of zustreben
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich einem Ziel nähern (wollen)
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 zustreben
- strebt zu present singular third-person
- strebte zu past
- zugestrebt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- haben or sein auxiliary
- zustrebend participle present
- zuzustreben infinitive infinitive-zu
- strebe zu first-person indicative present
- streben zu first-person indicative plural
- strebst zu indicative present second-person
- strebest zu second-person singular subjunctive
- strebet zu plural second-person subjunctive
- strebten zu first-person indicative plural
- strebtest zu indicative preterite second-person
- strebtet zu indicative plural preterite
- streb zu! imperative singular
- strebe zu! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is zustreben in German?
zustreben appears about once in every 26 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).