Word.ws English Dictionary

counter-

/ˈkaʊn.tə/US/ˈkaʊn.tɚ/

counter- prefix: in opposition to.

Prefix

counter-

  1. In opposition to.
    Synonyms:
    anti-, contra-, dis-, ob-

Synonyms of counter-

Origin of counter-

From Middle English counter-, cownter-, countre-, from Anglo-Norman countre-, from Old French contre, ultimately from Latin contra (“against”). Doublet of contra-.

Questions about counter-

What does counter- mean?
Counter- means in opposition to.
What part of speech is counter-?
Counter- is a prefix.
How do you pronounce counter-?
Counter- is pronounced /ˈkaʊn.tə/ (UK).

Words near counter- in the dictionary

  1. counter surfing
  2. counter surfs
  3. counter tenor
  4. counter tenors
  5. counter wavy
  6. counter-
  7. counter-adaptation
  8. counter-adaptations
  9. counter-apologetics
  10. counter-apologist
  11. counter-apologists

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: counter- (page history and authors). 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.