counterweight

counterweight noun: a heavy mass of often iron or concrete, mechanically linked in opposition to a load which is to be raised and lowered, with the intent of reducing the amount of work which must be done to effect the raising and lowering. Counterweights are used, for example, in cable-hauled elevators and some kinds of movable bridges (e.g. a bascule bridge).

Noun

counterweight (plural counterweights)

A heavy mass of often iron or concrete, mechanically linked in opposition to a load which is to be raised and lowered, with the intent of reducing the amount of work which must be done to effect the raising and lowering. Counterweights are used, for example, in cable-hauled elevators and some kinds of movable bridges (e.g. a bascule bridge).
- Four 110-ton counterweights, one in each tower, make this feat possible by reducing the effective weight to be lifted to some 25 tons; but an additional 20 tons (a very heavy snow load) can be lifted if necessary.1960 May, “Talking of Trains: The new Kingsferry Bridge”, in Trains Illustrated, page 265
- Like other supertall towers, 432 Park relies on the counterweight system to address the forces of wind and reduce the feeling of swaying for residents.2025 October 19, “A Tower on Billionaires’ Row Is Full of Cracks. Who’s to Blame?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
(figuratively) A counterbalance.
- A counterweight to the anti-immigrant fear mongering of the former leader of the right-wing U.K. Independence Party, Nigel Farage, Lexiteers^([sic]) argued a left-wing, democratic and internationalist case for Brexit.2017 March 28, Alan Johnson, “Why Brexit Is Best for Britain: The Left-Wing Case”, in The New York Times
Synonyms:

balance

Verb

counterweight (third-person singular simple present counterweights, present participle counterweighting, simple past and past participle counterweighted)

(transitive) To fit with a counterweight.
- The lifting span, which rises vertically between the towers, weighs 465 tons and is counterweighted by four 110-ton weights.1960 June, “New Lifting Bridge at Kings Ferry”, in Railway Magazine, page 388
- Everything on the grid – all the backdrops and curtains, anything that has to move up and down from the fly-tower – has to be counterweighted.2018, Maggie Harcourt, Theatrical

counterweight meaning in Tamil, Gujarati and Tagalog

counterweight in Tamil

ஈட்டு எடை, எதிர் எடை, எதிர்நிறையீடு, சமன் எடை, சமநிலை எடை, சமனெடை

counterweight in Gujarati

heavy mass reducing the amount of work which must be done to effect the raising and lowering of something: ધડો dhaḍo

counterweight in Tagalog

heavy mass reducing the amount of work which must be done to effect the raising and lowering of something: gantimbigat

Examples of counterweight in a sentence

“Even then, the probability of being a counterweight to Google is small.
In brief, Daoism provides a useful counterweight to Western logocentrism, phallocentrism, and the metaphysics of presence.
Space elevators proposed for the Earth require novel high-strength materials and a substantial counterweight for their implementation.

All 12 example sentences with counterweight

Synonyms of counterweight

balance

Forms of counterweight

Noun
plural	counterweights
Verb
third-person singular present	counterweights
present participle	counterweighting
past participle	counterweighted
past	counterweighted

Plural of counterweight: counterweights

Origin of counterweight

From counter- + weight.

Questions about counterweight

What does counterweight mean?: Counterweight means a heavy mass of often iron or concrete, mechanically linked in opposition to a load which is to be raised and lowered, with the intent of reducing the amount of work which must be done to effect the raising and lowering. Counterweights are used, for example, in cable-hauled elevators and some kinds of movable bridges (e.g. a bascule bridge).
What is counterweight in Tamil?: Counterweight in Tamil is ஈட்டு எடை, எதிர் எடை, எதிர்நிறையீடு. See Counterweight meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is counterweight?: Counterweight can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of counterweight?: The plural of counterweight is counterweights.

Words near counterweight in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: counterweight (page history and authors); counterweight (Tamil 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-counterweight.wav.

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