Word.ws English Dictionary

countersignal

countersignal noun: a signal produced in response to another signal.

Noun

countersignal (plural countersignals)

  1. A signal produced in response to another signal.

Verb

countersignal (third-person singular simple present countersignals, present participle (US) countersignaling or (UK) countersignalling, simple past and past participle (US) countersignaled or (UK) countersignalled)

  1. (intransitive) To send a false or misleading signal.
  2. (intransitive) To send a contrasting signal.
    • But of course, Silicon Valley is a mecca of counter-signaling—witness the superstatus Zuckerbergian hoodie—and it's no surprise to discover that in the land of the billionaire dropout, an Internet entrepreneur like Thiel sees evidence that higher education inhibits innovation.2012, New York Magazine's Most Popular
    • Just as the logic of signaling attracts New Money to luxury, countersignaling directs the Old Money sensibility toward modesty.2022, W. David Marx, chapter 5, in Status and Culture, Viking, →ISBN
  3. (transitive) To signal opposition to (someone or something); distance oneself from; disassociate.

Forms of countersignal

Noun
pluralcountersignals
Verb
third-person singular presentcountersignals
present participle UScountersignaling
present participle UKcountersignalling
past participle UScountersignaled
past UScountersignaled
past participle UKcountersignalled
past UKcountersignalled

Origin of countersignal

From counter- + signal.

Questions about countersignal

What does countersignal mean?
Countersignal means a signal produced in response to another signal.
What part of speech is countersignal?
Countersignal can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of countersignal?
The plural of countersignal is countersignals.

Words near countersignal in the dictionary

  1. counterside
  2. countersides
  3. countersiege
  4. countersieges
  5. countersign
  6. countersignal
  7. countersignaled
  8. countersignaling
  9. countersignalled
  10. countersignalling
  11. countersignals

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: countersignal (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:

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