counteract

C2+ Topic:Cause, Change & Process

Also spelled counter-act

US /ˌkaʊntɚˈækt/ UK /ˌkaʊntərˈækt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to act against and reduce the effect of something

Antacids counteract the burning of excess stomach acid.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to act against and reduce... offset neutralize negate counterbalance oppose thwart nullify

Opposites

abet assist reinforce aid

Word family

Derived forms counteractioncounteractive

Related forms counter act action

Etymology

From 'counter-' ('against'), from Latin 'contra', plus 'act', from Latin 'actus', past participle of 'agere' ('to do, drive').

contra Latin agere Latin

View etymology graph ->

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# counteract

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˌkaʊntɚˈækt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌkaʊntərˈækt/

## Meanings
1. to act against and reduce the effect of something

## Examples
- Antacids counteract the burning of excess stomach acid.

## Synonyms
- offset
- neutralize
- negate
- counterbalance
- oppose
- thwart
- nullify

## Antonyms
- abet
- assist
- reinforce
- aid

## Derived Forms
- counteraction
- counteractive

## Related Forms
- counter
- act
- action

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: contra
- Root: agere
- Affix: counter- - against

## Etymology
From 'counter-' ('against'), from Latin 'contra', plus 'act', from Latin 'actus', past participle of 'agere' ('to do, drive').

## AI Etymology
Counteract is from 'counter-' ('against'), from Latin 'contra', plus 'act', from Latin 'actus', past participle of 'agere' ('to do, drive'). The ancestry passes through Latin contra and Latin agere. The prefix contra contributes the sense of opposition or againstness, helping to explain the word's surface structure. In present use as a verb, it means "to act against and reduce the effect of something", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include counter, act, and action; derived forms include counteraction and counteractive.

## Topics
- Cause, Change & Process

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counteract

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