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count against

British

verb

(intr, preposition) to have influence to the disadvantage of

your bad timekeeping will count against you

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

count against Idioms

Be disadvantageous to, as in His earnings this year will count against his Social Security benefits. This idiom uses count in the sense of “make a reckoning,” in this case negative. [Early 1900s]

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.

Imports - which count against growth - continued to decline during the period.

From BBC • Jan. 18, 2026

In a 2-and-0 count against Suarez, he launched a center-cut fastball deep into the left-field stands.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 17, 2025

One of them, by sub fielder Liam Dawson, is the sort of thing that will count against his chances of going as the second spinner.

From BBC • Aug. 2, 2025

In a 3-and-1 count against d’Arnaud, he threw a center-cut sinker that d’Arnaud crushed to left.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2025

“It still had a willow-patterned shell, d’you think that’ll count against me?”

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023