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 knew you, madam, and was resolved to countermine you in all your plots.
From Dryden's Works Vol. 3 (of 18) Sir Martin Mar-All; The Tempest; An Evening's Love; Tyrannic Love by Dryden, John
Plainly I read between the lines that our plot had been discovered, that we had been countermined.
From The Iron Heel by London, Jack
Sedition has, at last, countermined itself, and conspiracy we have seen in effect perishing by its own excesses.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 by Various
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 Prescott, William Hickling
Perhaps she fancied she had countermined her opponents, and so felt secure.
From The Star-Chamber, Volume 1 An Historical Romance by Ainsworth, William Harrison
The morning came, the long desired sun arose, and all his plots were countermined, all his hopes of immediate action paralyzed, if not utterly destroyed.
From The Roman Traitor, Vol. 1 by Herbert, Henry William
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
To fancy that I was instilling all these precepts at the very moment that he was countermining us.
From The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. I (of II) by Lever, Charles James
In May, 1788, a Russian Envoy arrived and began countermining Austria.
From Twenty Years Of Balkan Tangle by Durham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
He commenced his dastardly countermining of his partner's advice by complimenting Payson on being a man whose words, manner and appearance proclaimed him to the world a true sport and a regular fellow.
From By Advice of Counsel by Train, Arthur Cheney
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
