verschlimmbessern

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German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Blend of verschlimmern (to make worse) +‎ verbessern (to improve), attributed to Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. See also disimprove.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /fɛɐ̯ˈʃlɪmˌbɛsɐn/, /fɐ-/
  • (file)

Verb[edit]

verschlimmbessern (weak, third-person singular present verschlimmbessert, past tense verschlimmbesserte, past participle verschlimmbessert, auxiliary haben)

  1. (somewhat informal) to make something worse in an honest but failed attempt to improve it
    Synonym: kaputtreparieren
    • 2012 July 25, Thomas Darnstädt, “Staatsstreich zum Guten”, in Spiegel:
      Es hat das verquere, durch eilige Reparaturversuche im vergangenen Jahr nochmals verschlimmbesserte deutsche Wahlgesetz gekippt – gut ein Jahr vor der nächsten Bundestagswahl.
      A good year before the Bundestag elections, [the Federal Constitutional Court] has overturned the messy German electoral law, which had been unintentionally made even worse by hasty mending attempts last year.
  2. (somewhat informal) to edit a text and thereby unintentionally distort it
    Synonyms: entstellen, verballhornen, verfälschen, verformen, verunstalten

Conjugation[edit]

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