Definition of "counterforce" []

• A contrary or opposing force, especially a military force capable of destroying the nuclear armaments of an enemy. (noun)

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.

• "He endorsed a version of what the RAND people called "counterforce" - that is, targeting Soviet nuclear and other military forces rather than cities, partly in an attempt to limit the damage those forces could do to Europe and to the U.S. homeland, and partly so as to hold Soviet cities hostage to further strikes and use that threat as a bargaining chip."
• "The leap in American counterforce capabilities since the end of the Cold War is staggering.)"
• "I wholly share his interest in getting a more realistic assessment of the so-called counterforce first strike."