Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use counterproductive in a sentence

13 example sentences · adjective

Counterproductive means more of a hindrance than a help. Example: “These programs mean well, but they're just counterproductive.”

Examples of counterproductive by meaning

adjectiveMore of a hindrance than a help.

  • Border hold-ups are counterproductive to winning hearts and minds, as were blundering Argentinian landings on the outer Falklands.2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, “Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 22...
  • It's most likely that these kinds of cuts to service frequencies, train formations, and service start and finish times would cost more in revenue than they save in cost and would therefore be counterproductive.2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 25

More sentences with counterproductive

  • These programs mean well, but they're just counterproductive.From the entry mean well
  • The unrealistic habits of StudyTube have created counterproductive relationships with audiences to academia.2021 September 29, Nicole Mui, “Investigative Report: Toxic Positivity; Selling success: Influencers’ romanticization of school life”, in…. From the entry StudyTube
  • Wealthy gays were outraged by our tactics, homocrats accused us of being counterproductive.2018 September 24, Sarah Schulman, My American History: Lesbian and Gay Life During the Reagan and Bush Years, Routledge, →ISBN. From the entry homocrat
  • In short, he is an indulger, a manipulator of texture, and ultimately counterproductive to this group’s strengths.2009 February 16, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in New York Times. From the entry indulger
  • So infectious was Jamie’s trademark bish bash bosh enthusiasm that it may actually have been counterproductive.2007 August 8, Gerard O'Donovan, “Last night on television”, in telegraph.co.uk, retrieved 14 Oct 2008. From the entry bish bash bosh
  • A system that encourages number of contributions over quality can be counterproductive.2006, Jane Klobas, Wikis: Tools for Information Work and Collaboration, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Chandos Publishing, →ISBN, page 199. From the entry editcountitis
  • From the author's viewpoint, salami slicing may also be counterproductive.2017, David H. Foster, A Concise Guide to Communication in Science and Engineering, →ISBN. From the entry salami slicing
  • On the one hand, there is the danger of ineffectual and often counterproductive conservative handwringing over the crisis.2001, Thomas W. Smith, Revaluing Ethics: Aristotle's Dialectical Pedagogy, page 1. From the entry hand wringing
  • Britain should not “pull the shutters down” on China, as it would be counterproductive to the national interest, the foreign secretary has told the Guardian.2023 April 18, Pippa Crerar, “UK should not ‘pull the shutters down’ on China, says James Cleverly”, in The Guardian. From the entry pull the shutters down
  • Allow people to act out in those ways, and you're guaranteeing that more counterproductive cookie-licking ways will emerge as you promote talent through the ranks.2011 October 10, Kris Dunn, “Attack of the Cookie-Lickers”, in CFO, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2024. From the entry cookie licking
  • Indeed, if the aim is to minimize the risk of dictatorship, or just to take optimal precautions against it, tyrannophobia might be counterproductive, for reasons we will discuss.2012, Tom Ginsburg, Comparative Constitutional Design, →ISBN, page 329. From the entry tyrannophobia

Meaning of counterproductive

  1. adjective More of a hindrance than a help.

Full definition of counterproductive

Questions about counterproductive in a sentence

How do you use counterproductive in a sentence?
Counterproductive is used as an adjective. For example: “These programs mean well, but they're just counterproductive.”
What is a short sentence with counterproductive?
“These programs mean well, but they're just counterproductive.”
What does counterproductive mean?
Counterproductive means more of a hindrance than a help.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: counterproductive (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use counterproductive in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/counterproductive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.