countermand

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old French contremander, from Medieval Latin contramandō, from contra + mandō (I order; I command).

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

countermand (third-person singular simple present countermands, present participle countermanding, simple past and past participle countermanded) (transitive)

  1. To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given.
    Synonyms: cancel, rescind
    to countermand an order for goods
  2. To recall a person or unit with such an order.
  3. To cancel an order for (some specified goods).
    • 1727, Jonathan Swift, A True and Faithful Narrative of What Passed in London:
      Three of the maids of honour ſent to countermand their birth-day cloaths; two of them burnt all their collections of novels and romances, and ſent to a bookſeller’s in Pall-mall to buy each of them a bible, and Taylor’s holy living and dying.
  4. (figuratively) To counteract, to act against, to frustrate.
    • 2018 February 28, Justine Jordan, “Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday review – a dizzying debut”, in The Guardian[1]:
      Early on, Ezra gives her a lesson to countermand the endless female impulse to apologise: “Darling, don’t continually say ‘I’m sorry’. Next time you feel like saying ‘I’m sorry’, instead say ‘Fuck you’.”
  5. (obsolete) To prohibit (a course of action or behavior).
    Synonyms: prohibit, forbid
    • 1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions:
      Avicen countermands letting blood in choleric bodles.
  6. (obsolete) To oppose or revoke the command of (someone).
    • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, [], London: [] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
      For us to alter anything, is to lift ourselves against God; and, as it were, to countermand him.
  7. (obsolete) To maintain control of, to keep under command.

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

countermand (plural countermands)

  1. An order to the contrary of a previous one.

Translations[edit]