Verklempt

//fəˈklɛm(p)t// adj, slang

adj, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Overcome with emotion, choked up. US, colloquial

    "Ferklempt Without You—Very pretty, sexy, fun, active, Jewish, 35, ad exec seeks handsome, funny guy for love and happiness. It'll be like buttah!"

  2. 2
    Flustered, nervous, overwhelmed. US, colloquial

    "[…] I noticed that Mom could barely hold a fork, write, walk, get up, sit down. She was verklemmt. Vermischt. More Yiddish words that mean what they sound like."

Synonyms

All synonyms
angstfulanxiousapprehensivecarefulconcerneddistraught

Example

More examples

"Ferklempt Without You—Very pretty, sexy, fun, active, Jewish, 35, ad exec seeks handsome, funny guy for love and happiness. It'll be like buttah!"

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish פֿאַרקלעמט (farklemt, “depressed, distraught; choked up”). The English spelling was influenced by the German prefix ver- corresponding to Yiddish פֿאַר־ (far-). German verklemmt (“uptight”, literally “jammed”) is formally cognate, but semantically unrelated; a closer match is beklommen (“anxious, despondent”). Popularized by a 1990s sketch comedy series.

Related phrases

choked up

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.