Weggefallen

Weggefallen is a German term that describes something that has disappeared, been removed, or been omitted. It derives from weg, meaning away, and fallen, meaning to fall, and is used as the past participle of the separable verb wegfallen. In everyday language it can refer to physical disappearance, missing items, or elements that are no longer present in a text, list, plan, or dataset.

Grammatically, wegfallen is often used with the auxiliary sein in the perfect tense: Es ist weggefallen. It can also function as an attributive adjective: ein weggefallenes Detail. The meaning hinges on disappearance or omission rather than mere cancellation. In specific domains, its sense can vary slightly: in editing or project planning, a point or item can “wegfallen” if it is dropped; in data handling, values may “wegfallen” due to missing data or cleaning processes.

Usage and nuance distinguish weggefallen from related verbs. Ausfallen typically denotes cancellation, failure, or nonappearance (for example, an event that has been canceled). Entfallen usually refers to something slipping from memory or something no longer applying or being relevant. Wegfallen emphasizes an actual disappearance or omission from a set, list, or plan.

Examples: Der zweite Abschnitt ist weggefallen. (The second section has fallen away / been omitted.) Im Protokoll ist Punkt 3 weggefallen. (Agenda item 3 has been dropped.) In der Datenerhebung fallen mehrere Werte weg. (Several values are missing after cleaning.)