Standard Lemma guide

counterattraction

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌkaʊntəɹəˈtɹakʃən/

1

noun

Meaning 1

Something that vies for the attention of a person or thing in competition with something else; a rival for preference.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1956, January 31st: Alan Alexander Milne; quoted in:
  • 1988: James B. Simpson, Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations, No 4,393 (Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN The Old Testament is responsible for more atheism, agnosticism, disbelief — call it what you will — than any book ever written; it has emptied more churches than all the counterattractions of cinema, motor bicycle and golf course.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a rival attraction

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: attraction

History

Etymology

From counter- + attraction.