How to Use counteract in a Sentence

counteract

verb
  • The drug will counteract the poison.
  • For example, if the car turns right the dots will float across to the left to counteract the motion of the car.
    — Owen Bellwood / Jalopnik, Quartz, 16 May 2024
  • The crunchy peanuts and a sprinkle of fleur de sel counteract the sweetness of the caramel, which acts as a binder.
    — New York Times, 1 Apr. 2022
  • The only way to counteract that is to try and find a few hours in the day to make sure to spend a few hours out of AC.
    — Jason Thomas Gordon, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Again, the goal is to balance and counteract the saltiness, not make the gravy sweet.
    — Sheri Castle, Southern Living, 19 Sep. 2023
  • Whenever the Dodgers threw a punch, the Braves found a way to counteract it.
    — Jaylon Thompson, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2021
  • Their isolation has been at the top of our minds, and how to counteract that.
    — cleveland, 19 Sep. 2020
  • To counteract this, don’t wait for someone else to step in — take the lead and reach out yourself.
    — Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 8 May 2025
  • To counteract, throw a pinch over your left shoulder to ward off evil.
    — Brandi D. Addison, Austin American-Statesman, 13 Dec. 2024
  • And thus there's not much that can be done to counteract those price pressures.
    — Chris Isidore, CNN, 13 Jan. 2022
  • To counteract the wind, the Patriots threw the ball only three times all game.
    — Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 7 Dec. 2021
  • To counteract this effect, the ship has to be steered at an angle.
    — Francesca Street, CNN, 29 Apr. 2022
  • The Lions can counteract this by playing through the pressure on the ground.
    — Julia Poe, orlandosentinel.com, 9 Aug. 2020
  • The strategy aimed in part to counteract the risk of music leaks.
    — Neil Shah, WSJ, 16 June 2022
  • The muscles need to counteract this weight by locking down to hold your head up.
    — Lauren Valenti, Vogue, 4 Sep. 2020
  • This was hardly the first time that the public had sought to counteract rising prices.
    — Christopher W. Shaw, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2020
  • All through the night, Pembridge and his team slowly angled into the waves to try and counteract the impact of the wind.
    — Francesca Street, CNN, 29 Apr. 2022
  • The Fed has lowered interest rates for the first time in a decade in an effort to counteract the harm of Trump’s trade war.
    — Heather Long, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Oct. 2019
  • Driscoll wants the Army to lead the Pentagon’s effort to counteract drones.
    — Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today, 13 June 2025
  • So there's a lot of new spending that has to be counteracted.
    — / Cbs News, CBS News, 1 June 2025
  • The pilots fought to counteract the system, which pushed the nose of the plane down, but ultimately failed.
    — Wired, 26 Sep. 2019
  • The best way to counteract mindless scrolling is with mindful scrolling.
    — Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 7 Oct. 2021
  • Through sheer force of effort, Auburn was able to counteract many of its mistakes.
    — Giana Han, al, 5 Dec. 2020
  • It’s meant to help the skin and muscles relax to counteract the signs of aging by smoothing folds and wrinkles.
    — Enrica Petraglia, Vogue, 25 Feb. 2025
  • This is a good thing, as this device helps to counteract the effect of the weight of your breasts pulling your chest and front side forward, Smith says.
    — Women's Health, 17 May 2023
  • Twists open up the upper back and counteract slumped posture.
    — Stephanie Mansour, CNN, 22 May 2020
  • As a bonus, these come complete with arch support to help counteract the higher heel.
    — Mallory Pitts, chicagotribune.com, 27 Feb. 2021
  • This could counteract the savings that the reforms are meant to create.
    — Colette Davidson, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Plus, it's infused with centella asiatica to soothe stressed skin, as well as subtle green pigments that help counteract redness in the skin.
    — Deanna Pai, Vogue, 4 Aug. 2025
  • The stabilizing device featured a 400-ton concrete block on a film of oil that would slide in the opposite direction to the building’s motion to counteract swaying.
    — Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 15 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'counteract.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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