Tina Brown

When George W. Bush hit the campaign trail in 2000, the precious possession he brought with him from home was his personal feather pillow. The theme of the Bush years was obliviousness. He was famously unavailable for debate and dialogue. He was deaf to countervailing voices. He hit the sack early and always got a good night's sleep.

American Editor

Joe Lonsdale

When I spend a lot of time reading, discussing, or thinking about an area, I'll often really appreciate why a strong viewpoint is true and come to very firm conclusions. But if I am later exposed to a strong opposing view, I frequently find this countervailing view persuasive as well.

American Businessman

Paul Craig Roberts

Whether one has a favorable or unfavorable opinion of unions, their demise is also the demise of countervailing power. A system in which there is no countervailing power is a tyranny in which power is unconstrained and unaccountable.

American Economist

John Perry Barlow

The one thing that I know government is good for is countervailing against monopoly. It's not great at that either, but it's the only force I know that is fairly reliable.

American Writer

Jim Mattis

The fundamental question I believe is, 'Is political Islam in our best interest?' If not, what is our policy to authoritatively support the countervailing forces?

American Public Servant

Julian Treasure

Sound is complex; there are many countervailing influences. It can be a bit like a bowl of spaghetti: sometimes you just have to eat it and see what happens.

American

Tatiana Schlossberg

When there is this dip in the jet stream that brings cold to the East, there's usually a countervailing loop that takes warm air into Alaska or the Arctic.

Used to describe actions taken by a government or organization to counterbalance negative effects.

Policy Context

It does not necessarily mean directly fighting against something, but rather balancing or neutralizing it.

Not Always Opposition

Often related to economic actions, like tariffs or subsidies, intended to correct trade imbalances.

Economic Term

 It's a deep tendency toward order in nature that opposes what we've all been taught about entropy. I mean, I'm not saying the law of entropy is wrong -- it's not. But there is a countervailing force in the universe --

Countervailing