Meaning & use
counterpart
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person who has the same job or role as someone else in a different place or organization.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a counterpart or counterparts. Often used with possessive: my counterpart in Paris.
Patterns
- someone's counterpart
- the counterpart of something
- counterpart in a place
The foreign minister met her counterpart from Japan to discuss trade.
My counterpart in the New York office handles the same clients.
The mayor spoke with his counterpart in a neighboring city about the new transport plan.
nouncountable
A thing that has the same function or purpose as another thing in a different system or situation.
Grammar: Countable: used for objects, systems, or versions, e.g. the digital counterpart of a paper map.
Patterns
- the counterpart of something
- a modern counterpart
The electric car is seen as the modern counterpart of the early gasoline automobile.
In this software, the save icon is the counterpart of the old floppy disk.
The online course is the counterpart of the traditional classroom version.
Word forms
| plural | counterparts |
|---|
Common combinations
- meet one's counterpart
- The two managers met their counterparts from the partner company.
- foreign counterpart
- She discussed the policy with her foreign counterpart.
- direct counterpart
- This role is the direct counterpart of the one I had in London.
- modern counterpart
- The smartphone is the modern counterpart of the pocket diary.
Synonyms and how they differ
- equivalent
- This can be used for things as well as people, but it often focuses on equality in value or meaning rather than matching roles.
- peer
- A peer is someone at the same level as you, often in the same group; a counterpart is specifically the matching person in another place.
Word family
- counterpart noun
- No common derived forms; the word itself is the main family member.
Commonly confused: counterpart or counterpoint?
counterpart vs counterpoint
Counterpoint is a musical term for combining different melodies, or a contrasting idea; it is not a person with the same role.
Practice
The finance minister will meet her ______ in Germany next week.
Choose one answer.
Counterpart means the person with the same role in another country. Counterpoint is a musical or contrasting idea, counterfeit means fake, and counterbalance means an opposite force.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “counterpart”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.