verschlimmbessern

== German == === Etymology === Blend of verschlimmern (“to make worse”) +‎ verbessern (“to improve”), attributed to Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. See also disimprove. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /fɛɐ̯ˈʃlɪmˌbɛsɐn/, /fɐ-/ === Verb === verschlimmbessern (weak, third-person singular present verschlimmbessert, past tense verschlimmbesserte, past participle verschlimmbessert, auxiliary haben) (somewhat informal) to make something worse in an honest but failed attempt to improve it Synonym: kaputtreparieren (somewhat informal) to edit a text and thereby unintentionally distort it Synonyms: entstellen, verballhornen, verfälschen, verformen, verunstalten ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Derived terms ==== Verschlimmbessern Verschlimmbesserer Verschlimmbesserung === Further reading === “verschlimmbessern” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon “verschlimmbessern” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961. “verschlimmbessern”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[1] (in German) “verschlimmbessern” in Duden online