counterreaction

noun

coun·​ter·​re·​ac·​tion ˌkau̇n-tər-rē-ˈak-shən 

variants or counter-reaction

plural counterreactions or counter-reactions

: a reaction in response or opposition to the main reaction

This situation … is inherently unstable and was bound to produce a counterreaction.

—David Brooks

… tax cuts could only stimulate so much growth. At worst, they could trigger too severe a counterreaction by the Fed, which might throw the economy into recession.

—The New Republic

a literary counter-reaction to modernism

Examples of counterreaction in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Wouldn’t that mean that the modern system of VCs funding startups—and ultimately, companies like Apple and Google— was based on a counterreaction to the white-supremecist ethos that Harris finds tucked away in every corner of his hometown? —Steven Levy, WIRED, 3 Mar. 2023

That may contribute to a cycle of reaction and counterreaction that could deteriorate into outright conflict. —Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2022

The most extreme step -- one that is still being debated -- would be to cut Russia off from the global financial settlement system, called SWIFT, but some European officials have feared that step might provoke too harsh a counterreaction. —Arkansas Online, 8 Dec. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1848, in the meaning defined above