counter-offensiven.adj.
Military.
An offensive (instead of a defensive) action undertaken in response to a prior attack. Also figurative and attributive or as adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > attack > [noun] > counter-attack or retaliation
reprisal1641
counter-offensive1909
slap-back1931
massive retaliation1954
second strike1960
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > [noun] > attack by hostile measures or words > in response
counter-offensive1909
flexible response1963
society > armed hostility > attack > [adjective] > counter-attack or retaliation
counter-offensive1952
counterforce1955
strike-back1962
1909 Daily Chron. 25 Feb. 5/7 In political as in military warfare the attitude of passive defence is of small avail. The true defence is the counter-offensive.
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 146 Counter offensive, the same as counter attack only stronger, more general.
1939 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 6/2 No counter-offensive on this front is practicable.
1952 Sun (Baltimore) 28 Aug. 1/3 It took in also the strategic air bases, which are counteroffensive rather than defensive in purpose.
1956 R. Macaulay Towers of Trebizond xiv. 150 Next morning while I was having breakfast, the Imam came in to the restaurant, the one who had followed us about on Corpus Christi when we had the procession and service in the square, and had started a counter-offensive.
1985 Financial Times 9 Dec. 4/5 The start of the inquiry has been accompanied by a counter-offensive by Militant, involving holding 100 public meetings throughout Britain.
1986 Christian Sci. Monitor 11 Feb. 9/1 Mr. Muhammad is gathering, probably with Saudi help, some 40,000 tribal forces in North Yemen for a counter-offensive.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1989; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.adj.1909