countermine
Americannoun
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Military. a mine intended to intercept or destroy an enemy mine.
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a counterplot.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to make a countermine.
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Military. to intercept or destroy enemy mines.
noun
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military a tunnel dug to defeat similar activities by an enemy
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a plot to frustrate another plot
verb
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to frustrate by countermeasures
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military to take measures to defeat the underground operations of (an enemy)
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military to destroy enemy mines in (an area) with mines of one's own
Etymology
Origin of countermine
late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at counter-, mine 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Navy’s countermine capabilities as it retires traditional minesweepers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
A U.S. defense official said the military was using a combination of manned and unmanned capabilities in the countermine operation, but declined to comment on operational specifics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
Extremely few flag officers ever served as countermine officers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
Called the AQS-24, the technology merges sonar with laser mine scanning and human command and control to sustain high-resolution countermine sensing and identification at speeds as fast as 18-knots.
From Fox News ● Feb. 28, 2020
He was hastening to Court, to countermine his underminers, from Bath, where he had been taking the waters.
From Sir Walter Ralegh A Biography by W. (William) Stebbing
Plainly I read between the lines that our plot had been discovered, that we had been countermined.
From The Iron Heel by Jack London
"Wait here an hour for me," he whispered; "I must see who liberates him, and whether he is really as innocent as he reads, or we have been countermined by the devil's own tutor."
From Hard Cash by Charles Reade
They countermined the assailants, and, encountering them in the subterraneous passages, drove them back, and demolished the frame-work of the galleries.
From The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 2 by William Hickling Prescott
Perhaps she fancied she had countermined her opponents, and so felt secure.
From The Star-Chamber, Volume 1 An Historical Romance by William Harrison Ainsworth
The mine had through treachery of some sort been countermined.
From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Lewis Wingfield
And many a U.S. diplomat, busily countermining the British, worries more about them than he does about the Russians.
From Time Magazine Archive
Whilst they played wits against me—against me who commanded nations, and intrigued for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were born—I was countermining them.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Whilst they played wits against me, against me who commanded nations, and intrigued for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were born, I was countermining them.
From Dracula by Bram Stoker
In expectation of HIS fate, I have been countermining with Szekuly, and his foolish old hands have flung up shovelfuls of gold as we went along—bright, shining ducats, which shall go with me to Paris.
From Joseph II. and His Court by L. (Luise) Mühlbach
Parallels and approaches were constructed; mines sunk and countermining done.
From The Greater Republic A History of the United States by Charles Morris
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