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to counterbattery

to counterbattery

9.8
To fire at enemy heavy guns to stop them
  • verb
  • Specialized
translation icon : contrabatear
  • Commanders ordered their units to counterbattery after detecting hostile artillery positions.

Examples

  • The army decided to counterbattery the enemy guns to reduce incoming fire.

  • We need to counterbattery their fire immediately!

  • Effective counterbattery operations can quickly silence enemy cannons on the battlefield.

  • The troops counterbattery enemy artillery positions.

  • The army decided to counterbattery the enemy guns to reduce incoming fire.

  • Commanders ordered their units to counterbattery after detecting hostile artillery positions.

  • We need to counterbattery their fire immediately!

Synonyms

to cannonade
vsto counterbattery
  • Formal
1 9.9

To attack a place with heavy guns like cannons for some time

focuses fire specifically on enemy artillery positions to suppress them

Antonyms

1.3

To protect people and things from attack or harm

Compounds

counterbattery fire
  • Specialized
8.3

Fire from big guns aimed at enemy guns to destroy them

How Forceful

to destroy
1.0
to bombard
13 5.4
to counterbattery
  • Specialized
9.8
to shell
27 7.9
fire
5.9
to harass
41 4.4

Surface Forms

counterbattery infinitive
counterbatteried past participle
counterbattering present participle
counterbatteries third person singular

Morphology

counterbattery = battery (semi-transparent) = counter + battery

The prefix counter- is clear, but the military sense of battery is specialized, so the verb meaning is not fully predictable for an average learner.

Etymology

Counterbattery is built from counter 'against' and battery 'gun fire', so to counterbattery is to fire 'against' enemy artillery or to attack their gun positions to silence them.