| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| countervail |
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| SYLLABICATION: | coun·ter·vail |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  koun t r-v l , kountr-vl |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: coun·ter·vailed, coun·ter·vail·ing, coun·ter·vails
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To act against with equal force; counteract. 2. To compensate for; offset. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To act against an often detrimental influence or power. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English countrevaillen, from Old French contrevaloir, contrevail- : contre-, counter- + valoir, to be worth (from Latin val re, to be strong; see wal- in Appendix I).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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