Word.ws English Dictionary

counterstain

counterstain noun: a stain contrasting with the principal stain in color, thus making the stained structure easier to see.

Noun

counterstain (plural counterstains)

  1. (microscopy) A stain contrasting with the principal stain in color, thus making the stained structure easier to see

Verb

counterstain (third-person singular simple present counterstains, present participle counterstaining, simple past and past participle counterstained)

  1. (microscopy) To stain with a counterstain

Forms of counterstain

Noun
pluralcounterstains
Verb
third-person singular presentcounterstains
present participlecounterstaining
past participlecounterstained
pastcounterstained

Origin of counterstain

From counter- + stain.

Words formed from counterstain

Questions about counterstain

What does counterstain mean?
Counterstain means a stain contrasting with the principal stain in color, thus making the stained structure easier to see.
What part of speech is counterstain?
Counterstain can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of counterstain?
The plural of counterstain is counterstains.

Words near counterstain in the dictionary

  1. counterspies
  2. counterspiral
  3. counterspirals
  4. counterspy
  5. counterspying
  6. counterstain
  7. counterstained
  8. counterstaining
  9. counterstainings
  10. counterstains
  11. counterstamp

Source and license

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