Gemäß

Gemäß is a German preposition meaning “in accordance with” or “according to.” It is used to tie a statement to a rule, document, law, or guideline and is common in formal, legal, administrative, and business contexts.

Grammatically, gemäß typically governs the dative case. It is followed by the dative article dem/der/dem, as in: Gemäß dem Vertrag wird die Lieferung bis Ende des Monats erfolgen. Gemäß den Vorgaben müssen Berichte fristgerecht eingereicht werden. In older or highly formal texts, you may also encounter genitive forms such as gemäß des Vertrags, but the dative form is standard in contemporary usage.

Spelling and usage notes: The standard spelling is gemäß with ß; in some orthographies, notably Swiss German variants, the form gemäss with ss is also seen. It is synonymous with expressions such as laut, entsprechend, and nach, though each carries a slightly different nuance. Gemäß emphasizes conformity to a specified source—contract, regulation, guideline—rather than simply reporting information.

Etymology and register: The word stems from Middle High German gemæß, from Maß (measure), historically conveying the sense of “according to the measure or standard.” Today, gemäß remains a hallmark of formal or official language and is frequently found in contracts, regulations, official correspondence, and policy documents.