counterthought

C3O1U1N1T1E1R1T1H4O1U1G2H4T1

noun

A thought that counters or opposes another thought.

OriginEnglish thought ← Middle English thought ← Old English þōht →
Scrabble 23
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Meanings

nouncounterthought (plural counterthoughts)

plural counterthoughts

  1. A thought that counters or opposes another thought.

    His thoughts and their counterthoughts are bent and curled, snail-like, inside the whorls of fiction.

    2008 January 1, Richard Eder, “A Writer, a Muse, Their Laundry”, in New York Times

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. Proto-Indo-European*teng-
  13. Proto-Germanic*þankijaną
  14. Proto-Germanic*þanhtaz
  15. Proto-West Germanic*þą̄ht
  16. Old Englishþōht
  17. Middle Englishthought
  18. Englishthought
  19. Englishcounterthought

From counter- + thought.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

counterthought. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counterthought

MLA

“counterthought.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counterthought. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “counterthought,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counterthought.

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