counteragent

noun

coun·​ter·​agent ˌkau̇n-tər-ˈā-jənt 

variants or less commonly counter-agent

plural counteragents also counter-agents

: someone or something that counteracts another: such as

a

: an agent (see agent sense 2b) that works to diminish, counter, or offset the effects of another

… said there have been multiple instances over the past year where officers, carrying Narcan, were first on the scene to an incident and were able to save an overdose victim's life by quickly administering the counteragent.

—Amanda Ostuni

b

: someone who acts against or exposes the activities of another agent

There are similarities with … the way in which they took Rudolf Abel off the book and tried to turn him into a counteragent, to work for us.

—Steven Spielberg

There are two levels of narrative. On the psychological level, we learn the colonel inherited the manor when his murderous wife was committed to an asylum for the criminally insane. On the skullduggery level, a slew of characters are revealed to be secret agents and counteragents.

—Dalt Wonk

Examples of counteragent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But then, Rockefeller and Clark had started Buy Nothing as a counteragent to the capitalist ethic that concentrates wealth and power in the hands of the few while ruining lives, communities, and the environment. —WIRED, 23 Feb. 2023

Muratov, in his Nobel lecture, cast a free press as a counteragent for such despotism, likening journalists to dogs that keep the caravan of society moving forward. —Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1821, in the meaning defined above