An action taken in opposition or response to another action; the process of working against or neutralizing something.
From 'counter-' (opposite, against) plus 'action' (from Latin 'agere', to do), creating a noun that describes the act of opposing or responding to an action with an opposing action.
Newton's third law—'for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction'—is really a law of counteractions: the universe seems built on these paired opposing forces!
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