counter-terrorism

noun

"counter-terrorism" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“counter-terrorism” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Measures intended to combat or reduce terrorist activities.

Key facts for counter-terrorism
PropertyValue
Headwordcounter-terrorism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “counter-terrorism” sits in English frequency

counter-terrorism falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

counter-terrorism is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Measures intended to combat or reduce terrorist activities.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for counter-terrorism in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From counter- + terrorism. The correct English form is counter-terrorism, spelled C-O-U-N-T-E-R---T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Measures intended to combat or reduce terrorist activities.

Etymology

From counter- + terrorism.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "counter-terrorism"?
"counter-terrorism" is spelled C-O-U-N-T-E-R---T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-M.
What does "counter-terrorism" mean?
As a noun, "counter-terrorism" means: Measures intended to combat or reduce terrorist activities.
What is the origin of the word "counter-terrorism"?
From counter- + terrorism. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “counter-terrorism”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-O-U-N-T-E-R---T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list