Word.ws English Dictionary

counter

Syllables: count·er/ˈkaʊn.tə/US/ˈkaʊn.tɚ/

counter noun: one who counts. Also the alternative form of contra Formerly used to designate any under part which served for contrast to a principal part.

Noun (1)

counter (plural counters)

  1. One who counts.
    • He's only 16 months, but is already a good counter – he can count to 100.
  2. A reckoner; someone who collects data by counting; an enumerator.
    • The basic idea is that the researcher conducting the transect (called the counter or enumerator) walks along a set path at certain intervals (hourly, daily, monthly, etc.) and tallies all instances of whatever is being surveyed.2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4
  3. An object (now especially a small disc) used in counting or keeping count, or as a marker in games, etc.
    • He rolled a six on the dice, so moved his counter forward six spaces.
  4. A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations.
  5. A variable, memory location, etc. whose contents are incremented to keep a count.
    • With a foreach block, you don't need to create an explicit counter variable.2006, Matthew MacDonald, Beginning ASP.NET 2.0 in C# 2005: From Novice to Professional, page 49
  6. (Internet) A hit counter.
  7. A table or board on which money is counted and over which business is transacted.
    • He put his money on the counter, and the shopkeeper put it in the till.
  8. A shop tabletop on which goods are examined, weighed or measured.
  9. In a kitchen, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, designed to be used for food preparation.
    Synonyms:
    bench, benchtop
  10. In a bathroom, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, which holds the washbasin.
    Synonyms:
    bench
  11. Any stone lying closer to the center than any of the opponent's stones.
  12. (historical) The prison attached to a city court; a compter.
    • He remaynes prisonner in the Counter in Woodstrete in the hole, by the contagiousing wherof he is lyke to perishe1590, John Greenwood, Christopher Bowman's Petition
  13. A class of word used along with numbers to count objects and events, typically mass nouns. Although rare and optional in English (e.g. "20 head of cattle"), they are numerous and required in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Adverb

counter (not comparable)

  1. Contrary, in opposition; in an opposite direction.
    • running counter to all the rules of virtue1693, [John Locke], “§94”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC
  2. In the wrong way; contrary to the right course.
    • a hound that runs counter
    • She hated being pregnant; it ran counter to everything she wanted from her body2004, Bee Lavender, Maia Rossini, Mamaphonic: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts

Noun (2)

counter (plural counters)

  1. Something opposite or contrary to something else.
  2. A proactive defensive hold or move in reaction to a hold or move by one's opponent.
    • Always know a counter to any hold you try against your opponent.
  3. The overhanging stern of a vessel above the waterline, below and somewhat forward of the stern proper.
  4. The piece of a shoe or a boot around the heel of the foot (above the heel of the shoe/boot).
    • Seymour, sitting in an old corduroy armchair across the room, a cigarette going, wearing a blue shirt, gray slacks, moccasins with the counters broken down, a shaving cut on the side of his face […]1959, J. D. Salinger, Seymour: An Introduction
  5. The breast of a horse; that part of a horse between the shoulders and under the neck.
  6. The enclosed or partly closed negative space of a glyph.
  7. (obsolete) An encounter.
    • with kindly counter under mimic shade1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “The Teares of the Muses”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC
  8. counterattack
    • Arsenal lacked urgency and penetration in a lazy, lacklustre opening half, sucked in by Forest's strategy of sitting back in blocks of defence waiting to hit them on the counter.2024 January 30, Phil McNulty, “Nottingham Forest 1-2 Arsenal: Gunners in title race after they close gap to leaders Liverpool”, in BBC Sport

Verb

counter (third-person singular simple present counters, present participle countering, simple past and past participle countered)

  1. To contradict, oppose.
    • I don't remember the conversation totally verbatim, yet I remember the tone — increasingly angry on my part, and flippant and snide on his. We countered back and forth at least three times.1979 February 10, Pat M. Kuras, “The Rubber Gun Backfires”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 28, page 5
    • In a war of words that has broken out between Khan and Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps, the Mayor was accused of sending revenue-raising proposals to Shapps some three weeks late, giving him little choice but to extend negotiations. Khan countered this by alleging that 'unfair'...2022 January 12, “Network News: Further extension to Transport for London emergency funding”, in RAIL, number 948, page 8
  2. To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.
    • His left hand countered provokingly.1857, Charles Kingsley, “(please specify the page)”, in Two Years Ago, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC
  3. To take action in response to; to respond.
    • David Cameron insists that his latest communications data bill is “vital to counter terrorism”. Yet terror is mayhem. It is no threat to freedom. That threat is from counter-terror, from ministers capitulating to securocrats.2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To encounter.

Adjective

counter (not comparable)

  1. Contrary or opposing
    • His carrying a knife was counter to my plan.
    • He could not compel Mrs. Proudie to say that the report was untrue; nor could he condescend to make counter hits at her about her own daughter, as his wife would have done.1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage

Proper noun capitalized: Counter

Counter (plural Counters)

  1. A surname.

Also used as

counter is also the alternative form of contra Formerly used to designate any under part which served for contrast to a principal part.

counter meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Telugu

counter in Hindi

काउंटर

counter in Marathi

काउंटर, काऊंटर

counter in Bengali

কাউন্টার

counter in Telugu

కౌంటర్, కౌంటరు
More languagesFewer languages
counter in Malayalam
കൌണ്ടർ
counter in Kannada
ಕೌಂಟರ್, ಎದುರಿಸಲು
counter in Gujarati
કાઉન્ટર
counter in Odia
କାଉଣ୍ଟର, କାଉଣ୍ଟର୍
counter in Nepali
काउन्टर, काउंटर, प्रतिवाद गर्न
counter in Arabic
عَدَّاد ʕaddād
counter in Malay
kaunter
counter in Indonesian
loket
counter in Thai
เคาน์เตอร์ káo-dtə̂ə
counter in Vietnamese
mạch đếm, công-tơ, quầy thu ngân, kệ bếp
counter in Myanmar
ကောင်တာ kaungta

Examples of counter in a sentence

  • which [darts] they never throw counter, but at the back of the flyer1615, George Sandys, “(please specify the page)”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W....
  • Innumerable facts attesting the counter principle.a. 1865, Isaac Taylor, Mind in Form:

All 40 example sentences with counter

Synonyms of counter

All synonyms of counter

Forms of counter

Noun
pluralcounters
Verb
third-person singular presentcounters
present participlecountering
past participlecountered
pastcountered
Proper noun
pluralCounters

Past tense of counter: countered

Plural of counter: counters

Origin of counter

Inherited from Middle English countour, from Old French conteor (French comptoir), from Medieval Latin computātōrium, from Latin computō, equivalent to count + -er. Doublet of cantore, computer, and kontor.

From Old French contre, Anglo-Norman cuntre, both from Latin contra.

Words formed from counter

Phrases with counter

24 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with counter

Questions about counter

What does counter mean?
Counter means one who counts.
What is counter in Hindi?
Counter in Hindi is काउंटर. See Counter meaning in Hindi.
How do you use counter in a sentence?
which [darts] they never throw counter, but at the back of the flyer
What part of speech is counter?
Counter can be a noun, an adverb, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce counter?
Counter is pronounced /ˈkaʊn.tə/ (UK).
What is the plural of counter?
The plural of counter is counters.

Words near counter in the dictionary

  1. countenances
  2. countenanceth
  3. countenancing
  4. countenaunce
  5. countenaunces
  6. counter
  7. counter admiral
  8. counter admirals
  9. counter batten
  10. counter battens
  11. counter beam

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: counter (page history and authors); Counter (page history and authors); counter (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); counter (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); counter (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); counter (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); counter (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); counter (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); counter (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); counter (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); counter (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-counter.wav.

Cite this entry: “counter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/counter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.