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 Stebbing, W. (William)
The deep mines of sin and of alienation are all undermined and countermined by His love.
From Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. John by Maclaren, Alexander
We mined the organization of the Iron Heel with our secret agents, and the Iron Heel countermined with its secret agents inside its own organization.
From The Iron Heel by London, Jack
Alas! the influence of one girl upon the actions of another girl may be as "immense" as you please, but wait until it is countermined by some newly appeared, attractive young scoundrel of a man!
From Miss Million's Maid A Romance of Love and Fortune by Onions, Mrs. Oliver
I seemed to myself perpetually upon the brink of being countermined, and perpetually roused to guard my designs.
From Caleb Williams Or Things as They Are by Godwin, William
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
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
No explosion took place, however, and after our countermining work was completed, the garrison became reassured and remained in the fort at night as well as in day time.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 841, February 13, 1892 by Various
Arundel, whilst sentries stationed at various points were charged with the duty of listening for countermining and to act in case of a sudden break-through.
From The 28th: A Record of War Service in the Australian Imperial Force, 1915-19, Vol. I Egypt, Gallipoli, Lemnos Island, Sinai Peninsula by Collett, Herbert Brayley
The art of countermining, and of counteracting the danger of mines exploding, was then very imperfectly understood, though that of besieging above ground had been brought to the very highest degree of perfection.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 369, July 1846 by Various
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.
