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Glite Dictionary
🚇 A defensive tunnel 💣 To stop enemy mines
countermine

countermine

1 9.9
A tunnel dug under walls to find and stop enemy tunnels
  • noun
  • /ˈkaʊntərˌmaɪn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : contramina
  • The engineers dug a countermine beneath the fortress walls to intercept the enemy tunnellers.
  • dig countermines

Examples

  • The soldiers dug a countermine to disrupt enemy operations.

  • During the siege, a complex network of countermines was constructed by the defenders.

  • Their countermine successfully collapsed the invading army’s tunnel.

  • Engineers constructed countermines to protect their base.

  • The soldiers constructed a countermine to protect their base from enemy excavation efforts.

  • During the conflict, engineers worked diligently to create a countermine that would intercept the enemy's tunnel.

  • Establishing a countermine was essential to thwarting the enemy's plan to place explosives beneath the city.

Surface Forms

countermine singular
countermines plural

Morphology

countermine = mine (transparent) = counter + mine

The noun is formed by prefixing 'counter-' to the noun 'mine' to denote an opposing mine or tunnel, which is directly interpretable.

Etymology

Countermine comes from counter 'against' and mine 'tunnel', so a countermine is a tunnel dug to meet or stop an enemy tunnel.