verfremdungseffekt

Anglicised/vɜːˈfɹɛm.duŋs.əˌfɛkt//fɛːˈfɹɛm.dʊŋs.ɛˌfɛkt/Anglicised/vɝˈfɹɛm.duŋs.əˌfɛkt//fɛɹˈfɹɛm.dʊŋs.ɛˌfɛkt/

noun

Brecht's distancing effect.

Scrabble 38

Meanings

verfremdungseffekt1

nounverfremdungseffekt (plural verfremdungseffekte)

plural verfremdungseffekte

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Verfremdungseffekt.

Verfremdungseffekt2

nounVerfremdungseffekt (plural Verfremdungseffekte)

plural Verfremdungseffekte · alternative verfremdungseffekt

  1. entertainmentBrecht's distancing effect.

    In the 1960s, Christopher Goodwin, who's in this production, worked with someone from [Brecht's theatre]^([sic]) the Berliner Ensemble and dared to ask her about the Verfremdungseffekt. And she went: “It's just something he said at a lunchtime.”

    2026 April 4, Mark Gratiss, “‘Here’s what happened, Brecht warns. Don’t let it happen again’”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12
    1 more example

    Brecht's famous ‘Verfremdungseffekte’^([sic]) or ‘alienation effect’, intended to counter the magical associations of stage illusion and the tendency for spellbound audiences to identify emotionally with characters on stage, both of which Brecht found abhorrent.

    1997 May, Clive Barker, Simon Trussler, editors, New Theatre Quarterly, volume 13, number 50, page 114

    Synonyms: alienation, estrangement

Synonyms & antonyms

nounBrecht's distancing effect.

Origin

  1. GermanVerfremdungseffekt
  2. GermanVerfremdungseffekt
  3. EnglishVerfremdungseffekt

Borrowed from German Verfremdungseffekt.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German Verfremdungseffekt
  • VerfremdungseffektVerfremdungseffekt
Japanese 異化効果
  • 異化効果 (ika kōka)Verfremdungseffekt
Cite this entry
APA

verfremdungseffekt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verfremdungseffekt

MLA

“verfremdungseffekt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verfremdungseffekt. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “verfremdungseffekt,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/verfremdungseffekt.

Source: verfremdungseffekt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.