[COUNTER- 2, 3.] A force acting in opposition to another; contrary, opposing or resisting force.
1609. Bp. W. Barlow, Answ. Nameless Cath., 168. By counterforce of both their strengths (the one impelling, the other resisting) the Cloudes breake into Thunder.
1817. Coleridge, Lay Serm., 405. A counter-force is wanting.
a. 1859. De Quincey, War, Wks. III. 263. A counterforce to greater evils.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 181. There was no counter-force, for the mass of the people was dumb, ignorant, and fettered.
