The Collaborative International Dictionary
Countervail \Coun`ter*vail"\ (koun`t?r-v?l"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Countervailed (-v?ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Countervailing.] [OF. contrevaloir; contre (L. contra) + valoir to avail, fr. L. valere to be strong, avail. See Vallant.] To act against with equal force, power, or effect; to thwart or overcome by such action; to furnish an equivalent to or for; to counterbalance; to compensate.
Upon balancing the account, the profit at last will
hardly countervail the inconveniences that go allong
with it.
--L'Estrange.
Countervail \Coun"ter*vail`\ (koun"t?r-v?l`), n. Power or value sufficient to obviate any effect; equal weight, strength, or value; equivalent; compensation; requital. [Obs.]
Surely, the present pleasure of a sinful act is a poor
countervail for the bitterness of the review.
--South.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context obsolete English) To have the same value as. 2 To counteract, counterbalance or neutralize. 3 To compensate for.
WordNet
v. compensate for or counterbalance; "offset deposits and withdrawals" [syn: offset]
oppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions; "This will counteract the foolish actions of my colleagues" [syn: counteract, neutralize, counterbalance]
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "countervail".
More significant, perhaps, Iran launched plans for reintegrating itself into the gulf security system, a move intended to strengthen its own interests while providing the Arab gulf states with a countervailing force against a future threat from Iraq.
Examined at close range he might be said to feature an uncanny sense of concentration, a fixed intensity that countervailed his noncommittal brown eyes and generally listless manner.
The goodness mopping up on Diess was countervailed by the opening of the Irmansul campaign, where the Posleen had gained an immediate upper hand over the mostly Asian forces.
Like their brother robbers on the highway, they suppose the escape of the moment a final escape, and deem infamy and future risk countervailed by present gain.
If we're going to take a black eye over Cerberus, then it's going to be up to you to win us some countervailing talking points by kicking some more Manticoran butt in the field.
I suspect, however, that there are countervailing considerations of which you are, as yet, unaware.
Setting aside the countervailing experience of Khomeini's Iran, the specific evidence we have regarding Saddam is that this is not necessarily the case.
However, there are also some important countervailing pressures with regard to timing.
So if we want any realistic chance of keeping control of our own star systems and our own souls, we're going to have to come up with some sort of countervailing coordination of our own.
But, to be perfectly honest, the Lynx Terminus represents the only powerful selfish reason for us to be involved in this region, and there are many countervailing reasons why we shouldn't be here.
And secondly a countervailing ferocity in his apprehension of the peculiar disorders and distortions of the modern era.
There are literary reasons, after all, for not 'using' real things, including oneself, without some countervailing broadness of vision or design.
But there is a countervailing urge 'to send the soul out into society', 'to see at first hand the big manifestations of disorder and take a fresh reading from them'.
Thus the formation of large rental organizations, by concentrating purchasing power, creates countervailing force in the precise Galbraithian sense of the term.
Spurs or ramifications of high mountains, making down from the Alps, and as it were, reticulating these provinces, give to the vallies the protection of a particular inclosure to each, and the benefit of a general stagnation of the northern winds produced by the whole of them, and thus countervail the advantage of several degrees of latitude.