counterargument

noun

coun·ter·ar·gu·ment | \ ˌkau̇n-tər-ˈär-gyə-mənt

variants: or counter-argument

plural counterarguments or counter-arguments

Definition of counterargument

: an opposing argument Joseph Stiglitz's new book, "The Price of Inequality," is the single most comprehensive counterargument to both Democratic neoliberalism and Republican laissez-faire theories.— Thomas B. Edsall … careful consideration of each of the arguments made by the appellant, and of the counter-arguments advanced by the appellees …— Jonathan M. Landers et al.

Examples of counterargument in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But anticipating counterarguments isn’t Ms. Solnit’s thing. — Barton Swaim, WSJ, "Politics Books: The Fire This Time," 27 Sep. 2018 Andrew Gillum’s victory would weaken arguments that political reality requires a moderate Democratic presidential nominee, and would strengthen the counterargument that President Trump has helped rekindle the Obama coalition. — William A. Galston, WSJ, "After the Midterms, Party Strategies Are Set," 6 Nov. 2018 That counterargument gets at an issue that has long animated debates over affirmative action. — P.r. Lockhart, Vox, "The lawsuit against Harvard that could change affirmative action in college admissions, explained," 18 Oct. 2018 But if nothing else, iOS 12 is a convincing counterargument to the theory that Apple intentionally hobbles its old devices to force people to buy new ones. — Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, "iOS 12 on the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPad Mini 2: It’s actually faster!," 17 Sep. 2018 OnePlus, for its part, doesn’t appear to be putting up any counterargument, and its current OnePlus 6 flagship makes no mention of Dash Charge, just generic fast-charging. — Vlad Savov, The Verge, "OnePlus is getting sued by Bragi over Dash brand it’s no longer using," 24 Sep. 2018 My counterargument is that their generation will have a problem to fix. — WSJ, "Value Investing Is a Long-Term Commitment," 8 July 2018 Exotic dancers have said the public has misunderstood their profession as desperately lurid, in contrast with a feminist counterargument that dancing can be an empowering way to earn money. — Alex Horton, Washington Post, "Exotic dancers march on the streets to protest crackdown on New Orleans strip clubs," 3 Feb. 2018 Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination turns the counterargument into the central argument and redefines the mission of the Court. — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, "Brett Kavanaugh and the new judicial activism," 12 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'counterargument.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.