Definition of "countervail" [coun•ter•vail]

• To act against with equal force; counteract. (verb-transitive)
• To compensate for; offset. (verb-transitive)
• To act against an often detrimental influence or power. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "You don't call it countervail, you call it something else."
• "Good imported witch-hazel, every twig ensorcelled by a nasty charm called the countervail that gives even more gold to his rich friends."
• "Brazil's economic model, which features a strong government infrastructure to regulate the disruptive effects that free markets can have on social institutions, is a post-Bretton Woods system hybrid that features strategic alliances with France and China that countervail turbulent free market influences that have been the hallmark of more than 80 years of having the US as its major trade partner."