verklempt

adjective

ver·​klempt fər-ˈklem(p)t 

vər-

informal

: overcome with emotion : choked up

Hunched over my tiny screens lately, I've found myself … verklempt over an old video I posted of my son blowing bubbles in the bathtub.

—James Poniewozik

Examples of verklempt in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Marc Maron is verklempt over life, progressive politics and the Los Angeles wildfires. —Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 10 July 2025

If her grandfather or great-grandfather, who both knew their way around a deli, were here, they would be positively verklempt. —Jordan Michelman, The Atlantic, 12 June 2025

Ferguson left the encounter feeling verklempt, but still utterly befuddled by how Krakowski recognized him. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 16 July 2024

Matt Rogers got verklempt at Tayla’s surprise song. —Vulture, 6 Aug. 2023

Every single passenger of Noordam seems verklempt, stunned into silence by the unexpected grandeur and fragility of the confluence of ice and stone and sea and sky. —Ernest White Ii, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Nov. 2022

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Yiddish farklemt "depressed, grieving," past participle of farklemen "to grip, press," going back to Middle High German verklemmen, from ver-, vir-, vor-, verb prefix, here with intensive force (going back to Old High German fir-, far- for-) + klemmen "to press, squeeze," going back to Old High German -klemmen (in biklemmen "to block, oppress"), going back to Germanic *klammjan-, derivative from a base *klamm-, whence Old English clam, clom "bond, fetter" — more at clam entry 1

Note: The spelling verklempt shows accommodation to standard German orthography.

First Known Use

1991, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for verklempt

• attempt
• contempt
• exempt
• preempt
• unkempt
• empt
• tempt
• nonexempt