wirkenden

Wirkenden is the inflected form of the present participle of the German verb wirken, used as a verbal adjective to describe something that is acting, exerting influence, or having an effect. The base participle is wirkend; wirkenden appears when the participle is declined and placed before a noun, most commonly in plural or after definite determiners.

In practice, the form findet use in attributive position. Examples include die wirkenden Kräfte (the acting forces), den wirkenden Kräften (to the acting forces), der wirkenden Kräfte (of the acting forces). In singular usage, the attributive forms are der wirkende Mann (the acting/active man), die wirkende Kraft (the acting force), and das wirkende Prinzip (the acting principle). Without a definite article, strong declension yields wirkende Kräfte (nominative plural) or eine wirkende Kraft (indefinite singular feminine). The sense conveyed is that the nouns possess or express action, influence, or dynamism.

Wirkenden is predominantly a descriptive, scientific, or philosophical phrasing rather than a common everyday collocation. It can denote agents, processes, or forces that actively produce effects within a system, such as physical forces or causal influences. The related nouns are Wirken (action, influence) and Wirkung (effect). The adjective form differs from the related word wirksam, which more commonly means effective or efficacious in a evaluative sense.

In summary, wirkenden is the plural or determiner-bound form of the present participle wirkend, used chiefly as an attributive adjective to signify active, influential forces or processes in German.