counterweight

plural counterweights

1. 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).

   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

   1 more example

   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

2. figurativelyA 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

present singular third person counterweights · participle present counterweighting · participle past counterweighted · past counterweighted

1. transitiveTo 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 28, “New Lifting Bridge at Kings Ferry”, in Railway Magazine, page 388

   1 more example

   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