# counterpart

Pronunciation: US say "KOWN-tur-part" /ˈkaʊntɚˌpɑɹt/; UK say "KOWN-tuh-paht" /ˈkaʊntəˌpɑːt/

## Noun

1. A person or thing whose functions or characteristics correspond to those of another.
   - Simple: A person or thing that has the same job or features as another.
   - _The defense secretary held lengthy talks with his Russian counterpart._
   - _Many of our engineers collaborate closely with their counterparts overseas._
2. A person or thing that resembles or closely matches another.
   - Simple: A person or thing that looks like or is very similar to another.
   - _The painting is a faithful counterpart of the scene outside the window._
   - _The two novels are counterparts, each telling the same story from a different side._
3. One of a pair of parts that fit or complement each other.
   - Simple: One of two parts that fit together or complete each other.
   - _A nut is the natural counterpart of a bolt._
   - _The two halves of the locket are counterparts that snap neatly together._
4. An exact duplicate of a legal document.
   - Simple: A copy of a legal paper that matches the original.
   - _Each party retained a signed counterpart of the lease._
   - _The two counterparts of the deed were stored in separate vaults._
5. Either of the two halves of a flattened fossil exposed when the rock splits along the fossil's plane.
   - Simple: One of the two rock halves left when a stone splits and shows a flat fossil inside.
   - _The collector found the fish fossil's counterpart in the adjoining slab._
   - _Splitting the shale revealed two counterparts, each holding half the imprint._

## Verb

6. To act as a balancing force against something; to counterbalance.
   - Simple: To balance one thing against another of equal weight or force.
   - _Two large weights counterpart the crane's extended arm._
   - _A wide foundation counterparts the upward thrust of the arches._

## Origin

From Middle English conterpart or countre parte, meaning a duplicate of a legal document, formed from counter- plus part. It compares to Old French contrepartie, from contre ("facing, opposite," from Latin contra, "against") plus partie ("copy of a person or thing"), originally the past participle of partīre ("to divide").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/counterpart (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).