counteroffensive
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of counteroffensive
Explanation
In military operations, attacks made from a defensive position are often called a counteroffensive. For example, an army might launch a counteroffensive against invading forces. If a region or nation is able and willing to fight back against military attacks, it will mount an armed counteroffensive. The term was coined during World War I, to describe the act of striking back after an invasion or offensive. It is from the verb counter, "go against," which derives from encounter, originally "meet an enemy," from the Old French encontre, "a meeting or fight."
Vocabulary lists containing counteroffensive
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.
There wasn’t much time to launch a counteroffensive.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Following the army's counteroffensive and recapture of Khartoum, more than 800,000 people have returned to the capital.
From Barron's • Oct. 21, 2025
When Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and Bush Sr. responded with a massive troop mobilization and counteroffensive, Cheney managed it quite competently from the Pentagon.
From Slate • Jan. 23, 2025
It’s a proactive counteroffensive, built on showing that democratic alternatives exist and can work both to identify and solve real problems, and to bring people together.
From Salon • Dec. 7, 2024
The marines had started a counteroffensive up near Khe Sanh, and moved up there instead of into the Phuoc Ha Valley.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
