Word.ws English Dictionary

countermand

/ˌkaʊntəˈmɑːnd/US/ˈkaʊntɚˌmænd/

countermand verb: to revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given.

Verb

countermand (third-person singular simple present countermands, present participle countermanding, simple past and past participle countermanded)

  1. (transitive) To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given.
    • Near-synonym: counteract
    • to countermand an order for goods
  2. (transitive) To recall a person or unit with such an order.
  3. (transitive) To cancel an order for (some specified goods).
    • Three of the maids of honour ſent to countermand their birth-day cloaths; two of them burnt all their collections of novels and romances, and ſent to a bookſeller’s in Pall-mall to buy each of them a bible, and Taylor’s holy living and dying.1727, Jonathan Swift, A True and Faithful Narrative of What Passed in London
  4. (figuratively, transitive) To counteract, to act against, to frustrate.
    • Early on, Ezra gives her a lesson to countermand the endless female impulse to apologise: “Darling, don’t continually say ‘I’m sorry’. Next time you feel like saying ‘I’m sorry’, instead say ‘Fuck you’.”2018 February 28, Justine Jordan, “Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday review – a dizzying debut”, in The Guardian
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To prohibit (a course of action or behavior).
    • Avicen countermands letting blood in choleric bodles.1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions
    Synonyms:
    prohibit, forbid
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To oppose or revoke the command of (someone).
    • For us to alter anything, is to lift ourselves against God; and, as it were, to countermand him.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
  7. (obsolete, transitive) To maintain control of, to keep under command.
    • Two thousand horſe ſhal forrage vp and downe,
      That no reliefe or ſuccour come by land.
      And all the ſea my Gallies countermaund.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...

Noun

countermand (plural countermands)

  1. (transitive) An order to the contrary of a previous one.

countermand meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

countermand in Tamil

ஆணை மாற்று, எதிரான ஆணை, மாற்று ஆணை, எதிர்க்கட்டளை, மாற்று உத்தரவு, எதிர்க்கட்டளை இடு

countermand in Urdu

فسخ, ممنوعیت, فسخ کرنا, منسوخ کرنا

countermand in Bengali

পূর্বের আদেশ বাতিল করা

countermand in Malayalam

ഉത്തരവ് റദ്ദാക്കുക, നിഷേധിക്കുക, ഉപേക്ഷിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
countermand in Kannada
ಪ್ರತ್ಯಾದೇಶ, ಮಾರ‍್ಬೆಸ, ಪ್ರತ್ಯಾದೇಶಕೊಡು

Synonyms of countermand

All synonyms of countermand

Forms of countermand

Verb
third-person singular presentcountermands
present participlecountermanding
past participlecountermanded
pastcountermanded
Noun
pluralcountermands

Origin of countermand

From Old French contremander, from Medieval Latin contramandō, from contra + mandō (“to order; to command”).

Words formed from countermand

Questions about countermand

What does countermand mean?
Countermand means to revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given.
What is countermand in Tamil?
Countermand in Tamil is ஆணை மாற்று, எதிரான ஆணை, மாற்று ஆணை. See Countermand meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is countermand?
Countermand can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce countermand?
Countermand is pronounced /ˌkaʊntəˈmɑːnd/ (UK).
What is the past tense of countermand?
The past tense of countermand is countermanded.

Words near countermand in the dictionary

  1. countermajoritarian
  2. countermajoritarianism
  3. countermajoritarianisms
  4. countermajoritarians
  5. counterman
  6. countermand
  7. countermandable
  8. countermanded
  9. countermander
  10. countermanders
  11. countermanding

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: countermand (page history and authors); countermand (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); countermand (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Countermand (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); countermand (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); countermand (Kannada 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-countermand.wav.

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