as in complaint
a court case brought against the plaintiff of another court case by the defendant
The defendant filed a counterclaim for his own injuries, claiming that he only rear-ended the plaintiff because she had stopped too fast.
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Recent Examples of counterclaim
Earlier this month, a judge allowed OpenAI to move forward with counterclaims against Musk.
—
Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 22 Aug. 2025
The judge has denied Musk’s request to block OpenAI’s restructuring plans, tossed out some of Musk’s claims and permitted OpenAI’s counterclaim to proceed.
—John Hyatt, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2025
Whether OpenAI will prevail on its counterclaims is anybody's guess.
—Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 14 Aug. 2025
Musk asked for the counterclaim, which was filed in April, to be dismissed, as the latest stage in a legal battle between Musk and Altman over the management of OpenAI, which Musk departed from in 2019.
—Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for counterclaim
Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 22 Aug. 2025
The judge has denied Musk’s request to block OpenAI’s restructuring plans, tossed out some of Musk’s claims and permitted OpenAI’s counterclaim to proceed.
—John Hyatt, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2025
Whether OpenAI will prevail on its counterclaims is anybody's guess.
—Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 14 Aug. 2025
Musk asked for the counterclaim, which was filed in April, to be dismissed, as the latest stage in a legal battle between Musk and Altman over the management of OpenAI, which Musk departed from in 2019.
—Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for counterclaim
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterclaim
Noun
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Kidman's complaint, obtained by The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, confirmed the two are living in separate Nashville homes.—
KiMi Robinson,
USA Today,
7 Oct. 2025
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The grand jury indictment supersedes the criminal complaint and allows the criminal case to skip the preliminary hearing phase and move toward a trial.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The lawsuit opens a new front in the legal battles the White House is waging against state and local officials, coming just hours after a federal judge blocked a similar deployment of the guard to Portland, Oregon.—
Dakin Andone,
CNN Money,
6 Oct. 2025
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Both deployments drew similar lawsuits from Democratic leaders.—
Cybele Mayes-Osterman,
USA Today,
6 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Chatbots are known to validate users’ obsessions and delusions, and most of the litigation around this phenomenon has so far pertained to self-harm, as in the suits Jain has brought against OpenAI and Character Technologies.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
11 Oct. 2025
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Swiss litigation and dispute resolution firm Lalive said the First Brands funding model’s mix of private credit and supply chain finance is reminiscent of the Greensill approach.—
Hugh Leask,
CNBC,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
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His initial account of the June 2024 incident differed from hers in the recent countersuit.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
8 Oct. 2025
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Polk was named as a defendant in NASCAR’s countersuit and was referenced in Friday night’s filing.—
Jordan Bianchi,
New York Times,
4 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Counterclaim.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterclaim. Accessed 13 Oct. 2025.
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