as in offsets
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 counterweights
Built by the Mosler Safe Company in Ohio, the vault’s doors opened upward, activated by two massive counterweights that swung down at the press of a button.
—
Literary Hub, 13 May 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.
—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
When clinicians practice this way, patients still seek out peers — but as companions, not counterweights.
—Scott Hamilton, STAT, 4 Mar. 2026
When the executive presides over the legislative branch and retains veto authority, meaningful institutional counterweights can become harder to sustain.
—Sara Albrecht, Chicago Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
Each tram has eight passenger cars and is powered by a typical heavy-duty elevator mechanism with cables, counterweights, etc.
—Kurt Snibbe, Oc Register, 28 Oct. 2025
According to the outlets, the pair heard a loud bang and the elevator cabin jammed before eventually falling down the shaft, along with a number of concrete counterweights.
—Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 4 Oct. 2025
They should be cultivated as counterweights to an overpowering security establishment.
—Shalom Lipner, Foreign Affairs, 26 Apr. 2018
Literary Hub, 13 May 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.
—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
When clinicians practice this way, patients still seek out peers — but as companions, not counterweights.
—Scott Hamilton, STAT, 4 Mar. 2026
When the executive presides over the legislative branch and retains veto authority, meaningful institutional counterweights can become harder to sustain.
—Sara Albrecht, Chicago Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
Each tram has eight passenger cars and is powered by a typical heavy-duty elevator mechanism with cables, counterweights, etc.
—Kurt Snibbe, Oc Register, 28 Oct. 2025
According to the outlets, the pair heard a loud bang and the elevator cabin jammed before eventually falling down the shaft, along with a number of concrete counterweights.
—Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 4 Oct. 2025
They should be cultivated as counterweights to an overpowering security establishment.
—Shalom Lipner, Foreign Affairs, 26 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterweights
Noun
-
In these zones, the fault splits into multiple strands with sideways offsets between them, creating small extension gaps inside the fault system.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
15 May 2026
-
Those bulbs spread and multiply by forming little bulblets called offsets, and those grow into larger bulbs.—
Andy Wilcox,
Better Homes & Gardens,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Old food debris was found on the floor beneath all cooking equipment, shelves, prep counters and refrigerators.—
Veronica Fernandez-Alvarado
May 22,
Sacbee.com,
22 May 2026
-
The country's airports, highways, rental counters and hotel front desks are about to face the first real stress test of the season.—
Christopher Elliott,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2026
Noun
-
Seoul’s café culture balances design, craft and ritual at a high level.—
Melinda Sheckells,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2026
-
The accounting treatment removes the tariff impact from underlying cost of sales and inventory balances and ensures comparability of underlying year-on-year performance.—
Vicki M. Young,
Footwear News,
19 May 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Some of these values—such as a disciplined commitment to physical fitness—are good and, in my opinion, necessary correctives to the enervating distractions of 21st-century living.—
Dan Brooks,
The Atlantic,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Counterweights.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterweights. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
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