countercomplaint

noun

coun·​ter·​com·​plaint ˌkau̇n-tər-kəm-ˈplānt 

variants or counter-complaint

plural countercomplaints or counter-complaints

: a complaint made in response to another complaint or by a person or group who was complained against

The US said it would file a complaint with the new World Trade Organization after 20 months of negotiations with Japan failed to open that country's market to US autos and auto parts. Tokyo said it will file a countercomplaint with the WTO.

—The Christian Science Monitor

specifically, law : counterclaim

The defendants filed several affirmative defenses to the complaint and filed a countercomplaint against the plaintiff hospital.

—Methodist Medical Center v. Taylor, 489 NE 2d 351 (1986)

Examples of countercomplaint in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Gray, who taught at John Cabot University in Rome, and Quillen met in D.C. in 2004, according to an account of their relationship in a countercomplaint Gray filed. —Paul Schwartzman, Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2022

In his countercomplaint, Gray claimed that Quillen had taken a $160,000 engagement ring that Gray bought for Jacqueline — an accusation that Quillen has denied. —Paul Schwartzman, Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2022

According to the countercomplaint, Kooistra denied any wrongdoing or having an interest in the companies, despite the interest being disclosed in public records. —Scott Morris, ProPublica, 26 Feb. 2021

But the abuse allegations made by Jolie in her countercomplaint are what have taken center stage online, where a yearslong culture battle has been waged between #MeToo movement supporters and detractors. —Kat Tenbarge, NBC News, 17 Oct. 2022

Illinois’ Peoria Journal Star, which first broke the news of the suit, reported that Zobrist filed for divorce in Tennessee in 2019 and that Julianna Zobrist filed a countercomplaint for divorce in 2020. —The Salt Lake Tribune, 23 June 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined above