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counteractive

counteractive

1 7.0
Acting against something to reduce its effect
  • adjective
  • /ˌkaʊntərˈæktɪv/
translation icon : contrarrestante
  • The counteractive approach to the problem helped lessen the impact of the crisis.

Certainly if you're going to go running and you're going to have your foot impact on the shoe as well and like counteractive to the sensations that it's trying to give you.

Examples

  • Counteractive screen toxins.

  • How is that counteractive agent coming along?

  • These herbal medicines are counteractive and tend to emphasize balance.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Intolerance cannot escalate into protest without supportive leadership and adequate resources under counteractive force.

    Academic text (1997)
  • But for those hospitals that are tempted to manage costs by refusing care to those who cannot pay, the COBRA laws have created a counteractive fiscal incentive not to dump the uninsured patient.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The new policy included a counteractive measure to reduce pollution in the city.

  • Doctors administered a counteractive treatment to neutralize the effects of the overdose.

Synonyms

countervailing
vscounteractive
  • Formal
1 7.0

Acting with equal force to balance another effect

acts to reduce or neutralize effects without implying equal opposing force
antagonistic
vscounteractive
  • Specialized
1 7.7

Working against another thing so they reduce each other's effect

acts to weaken or neutralize an effect rather than opposing mutually

Antonyms

161 2.6

Causing damage to people, animals or things

49 6.3

Causing harm to people, things, or the environment

How Counteractive

to neutralize
39 5.6
counteractive
1 7.0
preventive
57 3.8

Surface Forms

counteractive positive

Morphology

counteractive = counteract (transparent) = counter + act + ive

Formed from the verb 'counteract' + the adjectival suffix '-ive', so the meaning 'acting to counter' is directly derived.

Etymology

The word counteractive starts with counter meaning 'against' and ends with active meaning 'doing' or 'working'. So it literally means 'doing something against' another thing, which is why a counteractive action weakens, cancels, or stops an effect.