Word.ws English Dictionary

countervail

/ˈkaʊntəveɪl/

countervail verb: to have the same value or number as.

countervail: A man holding a scale with a basket of food on it
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Verb

countervail (third-person singular simple present countervails, present participle countervailing, simple past and past participle countervailed)

  1. (obsolete) To have the same value or number as.
    • Nay could their numbers counteruaile the ſtars
      Or [euer] driſling drops of April ſhowers,
      Or withered leaues that Autume ſhaketh down,
      Yet would the Souldane by his conquering power:
      So ſcatter and conſume them in his rage,
      That not a man ſhal liue to rue their fall.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...
  2. To counter, counteract, counterbalance, neutralize, or negate.
    • It cannot counteruaile the exchange of joy / That one ſhort minute giues me in her ſight:c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • […] should I find thine ear closed and thy heart hardened, what hope for myself could countervail the despair for thee?1834, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter II, in The Last Days of Pompeii. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […]; successor to Henry Colburn, →OCLC, book IV, page 209
  3. To compensate for.
    • I am one of those who thinke their fruit can no way countervaile this losse.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 38, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
    • countervail a very confiderable Advantage to all Men of Lettersc. 1700, Roger L'Estrange, Seneca's Morals

countervail meaning in Tamil and Urdu

countervail in Tamil

சரிக்குசரி கட்டு, சமநிறை செய், ஈடு கொடு, சமபலத்துடன் எதிர்கொள், கைம்மாறு, பிரதியுபகாரம் செய்

countervail in Urdu

برابری کرنا, جوڑ توڑ کرنا, تلافی کرنا

Forms of countervail

third-person singular presentcountervails
present participlecountervailing
past participlecountervailed
pastcountervailed

Origin of countervail

From Anglo-Norman countrevaloir (Old French contrevaloir), from Latin contrā valēre (“to be strong against”).

Words formed from countervail

Questions about countervail

What does countervail mean?
Countervail means to have the same value or number as.
What is countervail in Tamil?
Countervail in Tamil is சரிக்குசரி கட்டு, சமநிறை செய், ஈடு கொடு. See Countervail meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is countervail?
Countervail is a verb.
How do you pronounce countervail?
Countervail is pronounced /ˈkaʊntəveɪl/ (UK).
What is the past tense of countervail?
The past tense of countervail is countervailed.

Words near countervail in the dictionary

  1. counterurbanization
  2. counteruse
  3. counterused
  4. counteruses
  5. counterusing
  6. countervail
  7. countervailability
  8. countervailable
  9. countervailance
  10. countervailances
  11. countervailed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: countervail (page history and authors); countervail (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); countervail (Urdu 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-countervail.wav.

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