Abgegriffene

Abgegriffene is the past participle form of the German verb abgreifen and is used as an attributive adjective in everyday language. It denotes something that has been seized, intercepted, or taken away by reaching out or by force of circumstance. The meaning can be literal, as in a defender intercepting a ball, or figurative, as in data or quotations that have been captured or extracted from a source.

The term arises from the prefix ab- added to greifen (to seize or grab). As a participle used as an adjective, abgegriffene takes inflected endings to agree with the noun it describes. For singular nouns after a definite article, the endings are abgegriffene (masculine, feminine, neuter). For plural, the form becomes abgegriffenen in the nominative and accusative with a definite article. Examples: der abgegriffene Ball, die abgegriffene Tasche, das abgegriffene Dokument, die abgegriffenen Pässe. In contexts with other articles or cases, different endings apply (e.g., einen abgegriffenen Ball, eines abgegriffenen Balls).

Common usage spans several areas. In sports journalism, abgegriffene Bälle (intercepted balls) or abgegriffene Pässe (intercepted passes) describe plays where an opposing team gains possession. In data or media contexts, abgegriffene Daten or abgegriffene Zitate can refer to information or passages that have been captured or extracted from a source. The term often conveys a sense of opportunistic or practical extraction rather than formal quotation.

Overall, abgegriffene functions as a versatile attributive form in German, tied to the core idea of having been seized or captured through action.