gestört

Gestört is the past participle of the German verb stören and functions as an adjective or predicative participle. It broadly means that something has been disturbed, interrupted, or malfunctioning.

In technical and everyday contexts, gestört describes a state in which a system or service is not functioning correctly: Die Verbindung ist gestört, Der Empfang ist gestört, Es liegt eine Störung vor. It can also describe disturbances in noise, signals, or operations: gestörte Signale, gestörter Betrieb.

In reference to people, gestört can refer to a person who is mentally disturbed or morally deviant, but this usage is informal and often considered stigmatizing or offensive. Safer alternatives include psychisch gestört with caution, or more precise clinical terms such as eine psychische Störung. When discussing mental health, neutral and respectful language is preferred.

Grammar-wise, gestört functions as a standard attributive or predicative adjective. As an attributive adjective it inflects like other adjectives: eine gestörte Verbindung, gestörte Signale, das gestörte Verhalten; endings vary with case, gender, and article.

Etymologically, gestört derives from stören and behaves like a regular past participle used adjectivally in German. Its primary senses remain the disruption of processes or signals, with a secondary, more controversial usage when referring to people.