different between counteract vs baffle
counteract
English
Etymology
From counter- +? act.
Pronunciation
- (noun) IPA(key): /?ka?nt???ækt/
- (verb) IPA(key): /?ka?nt???ækt/
- Rhymes: -ækt
Noun
counteract (plural counteracts)
- An action performed in opposition to another action.
Verb
counteract (third-person singular simple present counteracts, present participle counteracting, simple past and past participle counteracted)
- To have a contrary or opposing effect or force on
- 1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, or, the Laws of Organic Life
- Another tide is raised at the same time on the opposite side of the revolving earth; which is owing to the greater centrifugal motion of that side of the earth, which counteracts the gravitation of bodies near its surface.
- 1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica - Dome
- In India, in the “great mosque” of Jama Masjid (a.d. 1560) and the Gol Gumbaz, or tomb of Mahommed Adil Shah (a.d. 1630) at Bijapur, the domes are carried on pendentives consisting of arches crossing one another and projecting inwards, and their weight counteracts any thrust there may be in the dome.
- 1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, or, the Laws of Organic Life
- To deliberately act in opposition to, to thwart or frustrate
- 2016, Margaret Corvid writing in the New Statesman, Five practical things you can do to fight Donald Trump if you live in the UK
- When people hear my American accent, they want to talk to me about Donald Trump. They want to ask me what happened, and why. But most of all, they ask me – with fear filling their voices – what they can do, as individuals, to counteract him, here, from the United Kingdom.
- 2016, Margaret Corvid writing in the New Statesman, Five practical things you can do to fight Donald Trump if you live in the UK
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:hinder
Derived terms
Translations
counteract From the web:
- what counteracts salt
- what counteracts caffeine
- what counteracts sugar
- what counteracts vinegar
- what counteracts birth control
- what counteracts sodium
- what counteracts melatonin
- what counteracts garlic
baffle
English
Alternative forms
- bafful, baffol (both obsolete)
Etymology
Origin uncertain. Perhaps related to French bafouer (“to scorn”) or obsolete French befer (“to mock”), via Scots bauchle (“to disgrace”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?bæfl?/
- Hyphenation: baf?fle
- Rhymes: -æf?l
Verb
baffle (third-person singular simple present baffles, present participle baffling, simple past and past participle baffled)
- (obsolete) To publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight. [16th-17th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:
- He by the heeles him hung upon a tree, / And baffuld so, that all which passed by / The picture of his punishment might see […].
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:
- (obsolete) To hoodwink or deceive (someone). [16th-18th c.]
- a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Duty of Prayer (sermon)
- pretences to baffle with his goodness
- a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Duty of Prayer (sermon)
- To bewilder completely; to confuse or perplex. [from 17th c.]
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:confuse
- 1843, William H. Prescott, The History of the Conquest of Mexico
- computations, so difficult as to have baffled, till a comparatively recent period, the most enlightened nations
- Every abstruse problem, every intricate question will not baffle, discourage or break it [the mind]
- (now rare) To foil; to thwart. [from 17th c.]
- 1798, William Cowper, On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture
- the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim
- a suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all
- 1915, Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, Fifty-One Tales
- So they had to search the world again for a sphinx. And still there was none. But they were not men that it is easy to baffle, and at last they found a sphinx in a desert at evening watching a ruined temple whose gods she had eaten hundreds of years ago when her hunger was on her.
- 1798, William Cowper, On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture
- (intransitive) To struggle in vain. [from 19th c.]
Translations
Derived terms
- bafflegab
Noun
baffle (plural baffles)
- A device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid. Specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether.
- An architectural feature designed to confuse enemies or make them vulnerable.
- (US, dialect, coal mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine.
Descendants
- ? French: baffle
- ? Spanish: bafle
Translations
Further reading
- “baffle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
References
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English baffle.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bafl/
Noun
baffle m or f (plural baffles)
- speaker (audio)
- Synonym: haut-parleur
baffle From the web:
- what baffled means
- what baffles me
- what baffled military leaders
- what baffles you
- what baffle does mean
- bafflement meaning
- what baffle means in spanish
- what's baffle in german
Share
Tweet
+1
Share
Pin
Like
Send
Share
you may also like
- counteract vs baffle
- noumenal vs unbodied
- attractive vs involving
- unnerved vs shy
- sour vs violent
- crowd vs reduce
- heated vs irritated
- desert vs retire
- fierce vs stormy
- sinking vs extirpation
- qualified vs inclined
- disunite vs distribute
- registered vs adept
- inform vs allege
- clear vs vivacious
- wordy vs chattering
- run vs slip
- infamous vs fiendish
- countless vs sundry
- gallop vs amble