counterplay
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.28 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A subversive style of gameplay in which a player attempts to overturn the usual rules and conventions of the game.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To counter; to contrast or contradict.
Example Sentences
- "Milov might have tried 15 ... b4 to give himself some counterplay on the queenside."
- "Near-synonym: playing off meta — colloquial"
- "I knew that, with this arrangement, unless I should counterplay, they would soon fleece me."
- "In these wars of theirs for the heritage of the whole world, continents will be staked, India, China, South Africa, Russia, Islam called out, new technics and tactics played and counterplayed."
- "Ironically, therefore, Deng shrewdly counterplayed his “American card” against the Soviet Union in order to forestall Soviet military retaliation against China for the invasion of their Vietnamese ally."
- "Yürük weaving generally comprises a rich burnt apricot, particularly in the borders; a mulberry-red filling large areas of the field; lighter reds used to counterplay against a deep, dark crimson […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Italic *-teros Proto-Italic *komterosder. Proto-Italic *komterād Latin contrāder. Old French contre- Anglo-Norman countre-bor. Middle English counter- English counter- English play English counterplay From counter- + play.
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Synonyms
playing off meta
counterattack