Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
⛔ To cancel an order ⛔ A canceling order
countermand

countermand

1 9.4
An order that cancels a previous command
  • noun
  • /ˈkaʊntərˌmænd/
  • Formal
translation icon : contramandato
  • After the meeting, the manager sent a countermand to change the project deadline.

Examples

  • Countermand.

    Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

  • Find a control panel marked, "Countermand."

    Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

  • Status one, subcategory Q, no countermand.

    Camp Daze (2005)

  • It is a safety measure, not subject to discretionary countermand.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Acting her assigned part, Isa struggles against the shall not, 'hearing another story's assertive countermand to the conventional: "This year beneath the chime she heard: The girl screamed and hit him about the face with a hammer'" (BA, 22).

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The general issued a countermand to revoke the previous deployment orders.

  • We received a countermand from headquarters that altered our schedule for the week.

Synonyms

undoing
vscountermand
1 4.2

An action that reverses the effect of a previous action

is a formal command that cancels a prior command

Surface Forms

countermand singular
countermands plural

Morphology

countermand = command (semi-transparent) = counter + mand

The prefix 'counter-' signals opposition which helps infer the meaning, but the root 'mand' is not a standalone modern English word so the composition is not fully transparent to learners.

Etymology

Countermand comes from counter- meaning 'against' and mandare meaning 'to order', the same root as command. So a countermand is literally an 'order against' an earlier order, which is why it cancels or reverses that order.