Counterblow

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A retaliatory strike delivered in return for an attack received ; a countering measure or action taken to oppose or neutralize an opposing force
2. A blow dealt back in reply to one already landed ; a response that works against and offsets someone else's move or policy
3. A striking reply made in answer to an assault ; an opposing step designed to resist or cancel out a rival's initiative

Etymology: A counterblow is a blow struck in return, and its making is simple: "counter-" from Latin "contra" (through Old French "contre") joined to the ordinary English noun "blow." The prefix carries the sense of answering or opposing, so the compound describes a stroke that meets an earlier one head-on rather than a fresh attack. The "blow" half has an older and more physical history. It descends from Germanic roots meaning to puff or breathe, the same ancestry as the verb "blow" in its wind sense, and Old English "blāwan" meant to blow air out of the mouth or to make wind. Only later did "blow" come to mean a sharp strike, so the striking sense grew out of the breath sense rather than the other way round. Because "counter-" was productive in English, forming words like counterattack and counterstroke, "counterblow" fits a pattern that was already well established. It is a transparent compound, so the meaning of each part is visible in the whole.

Synonyms: counterattack, retaliation, riposte, counterstroke