Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To cancel or reverse (a previously issued command or order).
  • transitive verb To recall by a contrary order.
  • noun An order or command reversing another one.
  • noun Cancellation of an order or command.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A contrary order; a revocation of a former order, command, or notice.
  • To revoke (a command or an order); order or direct in opposition to (an order before given), thereby annulling it and forbidding its execution.
  • To oppose by contrary orders or action; contradict the orders of.
  • To prohibit; forbid.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A contrary order; revocation of a former order or command.
  • transitive verb To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given.
  • transitive verb obsolete To prohibit; to forbid.
  • transitive verb To oppose; to revoke the command of.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given.
  • verb To recall a person or unit with such an order.
  • noun An order to the contrary of a previous one

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a contrary command cancelling or reversing a previous command
  • verb cancel officially

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English countremaunden, from Old French contremander : contre-, counter- + mander, to command (from Latin mandāre; see man- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French contremander, from mediaeval Latin contramandare, from contra- + mandare ‘command’.

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Examples

  • Those were the British orders, and the Japanese had no reason to countermand them on her say-so.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • No insurance company should have the power to countermand a doctor.

    Sebelius: There will be competition with private insurers 2009

  • With Proposition 23, two out-of-state oil corporations, Valero and Tesoro, and right-wing oil billionaires based in New York and Kansas are trying to use the California initiative process, originally intended to allow citizen intervention in the governance of this state, to countermand AB 32 and set policy for us.

    Rebecca Solnit: Jurassic Ballot: When Corporations Ruled the Earthrop 23 Rebecca Solnit 2010

  • The Army had barred Donovan from going in with any of its contingents, no way a Navy admiral would countermand orders from a sister service and take a stowaway, Stark told him.

    Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

  • We are unable to countermand or override the process.

    Star Trek: Typhon Pact Paths of Disharmony Dayton Ward 2011

  • With Proposition 23, two out-of-state oil corporations, Valero and Tesoro, and right-wing oil billionaires based in New York and Kansas are trying to use the California initiative process, originally intended to allow citizen intervention in the governance of this state, to countermand AB 32 and set policy for us.

    Rebecca Solnit: Jurassic Ballot: When Corporations Ruled the Earthrop 23 Rebecca Solnit 2010

  • The Army had barred Donovan from going in with any of its contingents, no way a Navy admiral would countermand orders from a sister service and take a stowaway, Stark told him.

    Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

  • Those were the British orders, and the Japanese had no reason to countermand them on her say-so.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • With Proposition 23, two out-of-state oil corporations, Valero and Tesoro, and right-wing oil billionaires based in New York and Kansas are trying to use the California initiative process, originally intended to allow citizen intervention in the governance of this state, to countermand AB 32 and set policy for us.

    Rebecca Solnit: Jurassic Ballot: When Corporations Ruled the Earthrop 23 Rebecca Solnit 2010

  • The Assembly had suffered a pang of conscience over their murder decree, so they ordered Cleon to countermand it.

    The One Handed Rower of Myonnesus « A Fly in Amber 2009

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