Word.ws English Dictionary

counter-subject

counter-subject is the alternative spelling of countersubject.

Meaning of countersubject

Noun

countersubject (plural countersubjects)

  1. The secondary melody in contrapuntal music.
    • In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and codas; there are fugues, with counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal points; there are passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, and other...1902 [1898], [George] Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite […] , second edition, London: Grant Richards, page 3

Forms of counter-subject

pluralcounter-subjects

Questions about counter-subject

What is counter-subject the alternative spelling of?
Counter-subject is the alternative spelling of countersubject.

Words near counter-subject in the dictionary

  1. counter-stings
  2. counter-strategies
  3. counter-strategy
  4. Counter-Striker
  5. Counter-Strikers
  6. counter-subject
  7. counter-subjects
  8. counter-surf
  9. counter-surfed
  10. counter-surfing
  11. counter-surfs

Source and license

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

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