counteraction

C3O1U1N1T1E1R1A1C3T1I1O1N1

noun

An act of retaliation; a counterattack.

RareScrabble 17

Meanings

nouncounteraction (countable and uncountable, plural counteractions)

plural counteractions

  1. countableuncountableAn act of retaliation; a counterattack.
  2. countableuncountableAny action in opposition to a previous action.
    1 more example

    On the other hand, it can be observed that, with small exceptions, the S. pneumonia strains are the only Streptococci equipped with homospermidine biosynthesis and pyruvate oxidation pathways, which have been found to be involved in pathogenicity mechanisms [50 ] and in the counteraction of oxidative stress [51 ].

    2015 September 15, “Assessing the Metabolic Diversity of Streptococcus from a Protein Domain Point of View”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI

Synonyms & antonyms

nounaction intended to nullify the effects of some previous action

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Proto-Italic*komteros
  6. Proto-Italic*komterād
  7. Latincontrā
  8. Old Frenchcontre-
  9. Anglo-Normancountre-
  10. Middle Englishcounter-
  11. Englishcounter-
  12. Old Frenchaucion
  13. Middle Englishaccioun
  14. Englishaction
  15. Englishcounteraction

From counter- + action.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian контраатака, противодействие
  • контраатака (kontraataka)counterattack
  • противодействие (protivodejstvie)opposing action
Chinese 抵消
  • 抵消 (dǐxiāo)opposing action
Finnish vastaisku, vastahyökkäys
  • vastaiskucounterattack
  • vastahyökkäyscounterattack
  • vastatoimiopposing action
Greek αντενέργεια
  • αντενέργεια (antenérgeia)opposing action
Irish frithbheart, frithghníomh
  • frithbheartopposing action
  • frithghníomhopposing action
Italian contrattacco
  • contrattaccocounterattack
Japanese 反撃, 反作用
  • 反撃 (hangeki)counterattack
  • 反作用 (hansayō)opposing action
  • 中和 (chūwa)opposing action
  • 相殺 (sōsai)opposing action

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

counteraction. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counteraction

MLA

“counteraction.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counteraction. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “counteraction,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counteraction.

Source: counteraction on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.