run counter to

Idioms  

1. Be in conflict with, oppose, as in Practice often runs counter to theory. This idiom, first recorded in 1843, uses counter in the sense of “in an opposite direction.”

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Example Sentences

"Our government is taking steps that run counter to democracy," said fellow organiser Marian Kulich.

From Barron's

It's an agenda that has shocked portions of the American public the way Cheney's once did, but one that has, at times, run counter to the policies and priorities Cheney once endorsed.

From BBC

From a human-resources perspective, it makes little sense to effectively conflate vacation days with work-from-home days, and it also seems to run counter to promoting goodwill.

From MarketWatch

To Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard, such a move would run counter to the administration’s framing of the tariffs as something that trading partners, not U.S. customers, are paying.

From Barron's

Policies or stipends to encourage people to have more children may run counter to the cost-cutting ambitions of small government conservatives; paid family leave or child care contradict conservative Christians’ arguments that more women should stay at home, at least when their children are young.

From Slate

Related Words

• argue
• assail
• attack
• debate
• defy
• deny
• disagree
• dispute
• face
• fight
• prevent
• protest
• resist