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This week's theme Miscellaneous words This week's words eleemosynary obloquy palliate countervail excoriate Today's word in Visual Thesaurus Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg countervail PRONUNCIATION: (koun-tuhr-VAYL) MEANING: verb tr., intr.: To counterbalance or to neutralize. ETYMOLOGY: From Old French contrevaloir, from Latin contra (against) + valere (to be strong). Ultimately, from the Indo-European root wal- (to be strong) that is also the source of valiant, avail, valor, value, valetudinarian, polyvalent, and wieldy. USAGE: "China is the unique case of a country arming a neighbour with nuclear weapons to countervail a rival." K. Subrahmanyam; Befriending the Dragon; The Times of India (New Delhi); Jul 5, 2004. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues. -Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author (1803-1873)

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