countermove

noun

coun·​ter·​move ˈkau̇n-tər-ˌmüv How to pronounce countermove (audio)
variants or counter-move
plural countermoves or counter-moves
: a move designed to check, offset, or counter another move
Chess-playing programs, for instance, were … instructed to look ahead and try to calculate all possible moves and countermoves.Tom Alexander
… had seen … a linebacker drift out and line up nose to nose on a wide receiver. It surprised them, and they had come up with a countermove.Mark Bowden
… wanted to play out the long-term implications of possible U.S. moves and Iranian countermoves.James Fallows
"Their kidnapping of Miss Tuppence is the counter-move to your escape."Agatha Christie

Examples of countermove in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The players announced their moves and countermoves, negotiated, interrupted one another and occasionally shouted over our unflappable controller, Ed McGrady, an experienced game architect. Barton Gellman, Washington Post, 30 July 2024 These countermoves are whipping up a default perfect storm. Carla Norrlof, Foreign Affairs, 18 Mar. 2022 Instead of digesting this laughable conclusion and making a cunning countermove, Danvers lashes out, accusing Kate and the mine of covering up Annie K.’s murder and the water pollution near Ennis. Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 9 Feb. 2024 This interplay ensures that the balance of survival never stagnates, as each evolutionary innovation prompts a countermove in the complex chess game of predator-prey relationships. Scott Travers, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024 See all Example Sentences for countermove 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'countermove.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1858, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of countermove was in 1858

Dictionary Entries Near countermove

Cite this Entry

“Countermove.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/countermove. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on countermove

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!