counteract
/ˈkaʊntəɹˌækt/
counteract noun: an action performed in opposition to another action.
Noun
counteract (plural counteracts)
- An action performed in opposition to another action.
- This flesh and blood of Christ's human body, as the redeeming substance, should have been eaten by man as an act of obedience to the command, 'Take, eat,' &c., as a counteract to the act of disobedience, and as a work meet for repentance.1859, James Fletcher, A synthesis or conjoint view of the points of doctrine connected with the institution of the Lord's Supper
- Every time there is a march by the Ku Klux Klan or a swastika painted on a Jewish building, there could be a counteract of reconciliation within twenty-four hours.2006, John Danforth, Faith and Politics, →ISBN
Verb
counteract (third-person singular simple present counteracts, present participle counteracting, simple past and past participle counteracted)
- To have a contrary or opposing effect or force on someone or something.
- Another tide is raised at the same time on the opposite side of the revolving earth; which is owing to the greater centrifugal motion of that side of the earth, which counteracts the gravitation of bodies near its surface.1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, or, the Laws of Organic Life
- In India, in the “great mosque” of Jama Masjid (a.d. 1560) and the Gol Gumbaz, or tomb of Mahommed Adil Shah (a.d. 1630) at Bijapur, the domes are carried on pendentives consisting of arches crossing one another and projecting inwards, and their weight counteracts any thrust there may be in the...1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica - Dome
- Synonyms:
- offset, counterpoise, countervail
- To deliberately act in opposition to, to thwart or frustrate.
- It took a long time for the place to warm up and to counteract the cold and enable their fingers to cope with the delicate task of moulding, the men would often surround themselves with blocks of iron heated in the furnace.1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 342
- When people hear my American accent, they want to talk to me about Donald Trump. They want to ask me what happened, and why. But most of all, they ask me – with fear filling their voices – what they can do, as individuals, to counteract him, here, from the United Kingdom.2016, Margaret Corvid writing in the New Statesman, Five practical things you can do to fight Donald Trump if you live in the UK
counteract meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
counteract in Tamil
- எதிர்வேலை செய், எதிர்ச்செய்கை மூலம் எரிச்சல், அலுப்பு ஊட்டு, எதிர்த்து நில், எதிரேவல் செய், விஷம்
counteract in Urdu
- بےاثر کرنا, ہرانا
counteract in Bengali
- প্রতিরোধ করা, ব্যর্থ করে দেওয়া
counteract in Telugu
- to counteract, to expel, as an antidote does
- హరించు hariñcu, హరియించు hariyiñcu
More languagesFewer languages
- counteract in Malayalam
- പ്രതിരോധിക്കുക, ദുർബ്ബലീകരിക്കുക, പ്രതിപ്രവർത്തിക്കുക, തടസ്സപ്പെടുത്തുക
- counteract in Kannada
- ಮಲೆ, ಮಾರು māru
Examples of counteract in a sentence
- The intended purpose of antidiscrimination laws is to counteract and reduce inequity.
- Traditional retailers are devising strategies to counteract the threat from showrooming.
- The apparent futility of trying to counteract the prevailing social forces had left her thoroughly demotivated in her daily life.
Synonyms of counteract
Antonyms
Forms of counteract
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | counteracts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | counteracts |
| present participle | counteracting |
| past participle | counteracted |
| past | counteracted |
Origin of counteract
From counter- + act.
Words formed from counteract
Words that rhyme with counteract
Questions about counteract
- What does counteract mean?
- Counteract means an action performed in opposition to another action.
- What is counteract in Tamil?
- Counteract in Tamil is எதிர்வேலை செய், எதிர்ச்செய்கை மூலம் எரிச்சல், அலுப்பு ஊட்டு. See Counteract meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is counteract?
- Counteract can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce counteract?
- Counteract is pronounced /ˈkaʊntəɹˌækt/.
- What is the plural of counteract?
- The plural of counteract is counteracts.
Words near counteract in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: counteract (page history and authors); counteract (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); counteract (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); counteract (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); హరించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); counteract (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-counteract.wav.
Cite this entry: “counteract.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/counteract. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.