as in offset
a force or influence that makes an opposing force ineffective or less effective
hard work can often be a counterweight to modest intelligence
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Recent Examples of counterweight
Other items from the ship, including the ballasts that served as counterweights for the human cargo, are remaining on display and will be returned to South Africa in two years.
—
Arkansas Online, 13 Mar. 2026
Other items from the ship, including the ballasts that served as counterweights for the human cargo, are remaining on display and will be returned to South Africa in two years.
—ABC News, 12 Mar. 2026
Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray and Brendan Donovan are gone, but the counterweight is the wave that’s supposed to replace them.
—Jenny Catlin, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2026
In literary translation, the term compensation refers to a moment where something lost in one part of the text is recouped elsewhere — not through direct replacement, but through a kind of interpretive counterweight.
—Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for counterweight
Arkansas Online, 13 Mar. 2026
Other items from the ship, including the ballasts that served as counterweights for the human cargo, are remaining on display and will be returned to South Africa in two years.
—ABC News, 12 Mar. 2026
Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray and Brendan Donovan are gone, but the counterweight is the wave that’s supposed to replace them.
—Jenny Catlin, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2026
In literary translation, the term compensation refers to a moment where something lost in one part of the text is recouped elsewhere — not through direct replacement, but through a kind of interpretive counterweight.
—Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for counterweight
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterweight
Noun
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Our Edition One package included 20-inch multispoke S-design wheels with a tri-color finish and black offset accents.—
Marc D Grasso,
Hartford Courant,
11 Apr. 2026
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Our Edition One package included 20-inch multispoke S-design wheels with a tri-color finish and black offset accents.—
Marc D. Grasso,
Boston Herald,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Liverpool were slow to react to the quick turnover of possession and their counter-press began too late.—
Andy Jones,
New York Times,
7 Apr. 2026
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The hand-wound caliber, which features a flyback chronograph and a jumping-minute counter, was built around asymmetrical architecture that gives it that quintessentially Rexhepi feel.—
Rachel Cormack,
Robb Report,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But while the civil court found the war crimes allegations were mostly proven on a balance of probabilities, the war crime murder charges would have to be proved in a criminal court to a higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
8 Apr. 2026
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But the actual balance was much lower.—
Carol Thompson,
CBS News,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In Why Democracy Needs the Rich, author John McGinnis argues that wealth, including billionaire philanthropy, is a healthy counterbalance to government.—
Jessica Mathews,
Fortune,
3 Apr. 2026
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But the audacity to make a movie with such an unlikable character, and to counter that, to cast it with someone everyone seems to like [Timothée Chalamet] as Dylan was a nice counterbalance.—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Paint can also be a powerful corrective.—
Sophie Flaxman,
Better Homes & Gardens,
10 Mar. 2026
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These are all refreshing correctives to the texts that previously stood in for contemporary Japan internationally, including any number of small volumes about magical cafés, bookshops, or libraries, often with cats on their covers.—
Sarah Chihaya,
New Yorker,
3 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Counterweight.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterweight. Accessed 14 Apr. 2026.
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