Home / Words / counteractNo. 0083

counteract

/ˌkaʊntərˈækt//ˌkaʊntərˈækt/·verb
to act against something so as to reduce or cancel its effect
Fig. 1 — A heavy ball is set rolling from the left, aimed dead at a danger zone marked on the right; left to itself it would arrive without trouble.
01Definition

To counteract is to push back against a force so its effect shrinks or vanishes — from counter-, 'against', and act. Antacids counteract acidity; a stabilizer counteracts a wobble; good policy can counteract a downturn. The word implies a deliberate, opposing action aimed squarely at an effect, ideally meeting it head-on until the two reach equilibrium. Where to exacerbate makes a thing worse, to counteract works to neutralize it, the way one wave can flatten another.

02In use
  • iThe drug is given to counteract the side effects of the treatment.
  • iiPlanting trees can partly counteract the carbon a city produces.
  • iiiShe leaned into the turn to counteract the bike's drift.
03Collocations
  • counteract the effect
  • counteract a trend
  • help counteract
  • counteract the damage

Family counteraction (noun) · counteractive (adjective)

04Relations

=offset, neutralize, counterbalance, negate, mitigate

≠reinforce, exacerbate, amplify

06TOEFL & IELTS

Useful across TOEFL science and IELTS problem-solution writing — 'measures to counteract climate change/inflation/bias'. It pairs with effects and forces as its object. Distinguish it from 'counter' (to respond or oppose generally) and from 'mitigate' (to soften, not necessarily cancel): to counteract aims to neutralize the effect outright.

07Asked
What is the difference between counteract and counter?
Counter is the broad verb for opposing or replying — you counter an argument, throw a counter-punch. Counteract is narrower and aimed at effects: it works to cancel a force's result, ideally to zero. You counter a claim with a better one; you counteract a poison with an antidote. Counter answers; counteract neutralizes.
Is it 'counteract' or 'counteract against'?
Just counteract — it is transitive and takes its object directly: 'measures to counteract inflation', not 'counteract against inflation'. The against is already sealed inside the counter- prefix, so adding the preposition doubles it. The object is almost always an effect or a force: counteract the effects, the damage, the trend.
What is the difference between counteract and mitigate?
Ambition. To mitigate is to soften — reduce severity without removing it. To counteract aims higher: to cancel the effect outright, force meeting equal force. The scene above is pure counteraction, not mitigation — two matched balls strike head-on and both stop dead, well short of the line. Mitigation would only have slowed the first one down.
What does 'counteract the effects of' mean?
To take deliberate action against something's results so they shrink or disappear — 'antioxidants may help counteract the effects of ageing', 'a subsidy to counteract rising costs'. It is the verb's home collocation, and it always implies a second, opposing force introduced on purpose to meet the first.
What words go with counteract?
Its objects are almost always effects and forces rather than things: counteract the effects, the damage, the trend, the impact, an imbalance. It also travels with the soft auxiliary 'help' — 'measures to help counteract climate change' — which quietly lowers the claim from cancelling the force to working against it. Useful when you want to argue without overpromising.