different between counterpart vs counteract

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1451, originally as countre part "duplicate of a legal document", from Old French contrepartie, itself from contre (“facing, opposite”) (from Latin contra (“against”)) + partie (“copy of a person or thing”) (originally past participle of part?re (“to divide”)). Equivalent to counter- +? part.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt??p??t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt??p??t/

Noun

counterpart (plural counterparts)

1. Either of two parts that fit together, or complement one another.

   Those brass knobs and their hollow counterparts interlock perfectly
2. (law) A duplicate of a legal document.
3. One which resembles another
4. One which has corresponding functions or characteristics.
5. (paleontology) Either half of a flattened fossil when the rock has split along the plane of the fossil.

Synonyms

• equivalent
• homolog
• opposite number
• pendant

Related terms

• counterbalance
• counterpoint
• countersign
• counterweight
• complement
• partner

Translations

Verb

counterpart (third-person singular simple present counterparts, present participle counterparting, simple past and past participle counterparted)

1. Counterbalance.

English

Etymology

From counter- +? act.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt???ækt/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt???ækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

counteract (plural counteracts)

1. 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)

1. 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.

2. 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.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hinder

Derived terms

Translations