Membel
German ADVERB B2 Rank 2698

keineswegs

by no means

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Meanings

01

keineswegs

by no means

Under no circumstances; not at all. It is used to strongly negate a statement or to emphasize that something is not true.

example

Ich bin keineswegs müde, wir können gerne noch bleiben.

I am by no means tired; we can gladly stay a bit longer.

Visual example for keineswegs: keineswegs

Usage tips

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near_synonym

keineswegs vs nichts

nothing

'nichts' and 'keineswegs' can both negate a statement, but they do it in different ways. 'nichts' means that no thing is there or no thing happens. 'keineswegs' strongly negates an entire statement and means something like 'not at all'. It sounds somewhat more formal or emphatic than simple 'nicht' (not). So you say 'Ich habe nichts gehört' (I heard nothing / I didn’t hear anything) when there is no information. You say 'Das ist keineswegs sicher' (That is by no means certain) when you are clearly contradicting a statement.

Visual example for nichts
keineswegs

In der Werkstatt ist Frau Kaya keineswegs zufrieden mit der Reparatur.

At the repair shop, Ms. Kaya is by no means satisfied with the repair.

nichts

Meine Nachbarin hat beim Termin nichts Neues erfahren.

My neighbor didn’t learn anything new at the appointment.

Open full lesson: nichts →

In real life

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