counterexample
noun
coun·ter·ex·am·ple
| \ ˈkau̇n-tər-ig-ˌzam-pəl
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Definition of counterexample
: an example that refutes or disproves a proposition or theory
Examples of counterexample in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The counterexamples are famous, of course, running from Altamont (the late ’69 Rolling Stones show marked by murder and overdoses) to Fyre (the 2017 hype fraud in the Bahamas). — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, "Why Woodstock Can Never Happen Again," 6 Aug. 2019 Proofs, examples, counterexamples and conjectures were all gone. — Quanta Magazine, "A Mathematician Who Dances to the Joys and Sorrows of Discovery," 20 Nov. 2017 By Douglas Rushkoff Norton, 243 pages, $23.95 The book, indeed, rarely pauses to consider pesky counterexamples to such grand claims. — Steven Poole, WSJ, "‘Team Human’ Review: Users of the World, Unite!," 25 Jan. 2019 But for every example of democracy fading out or finding itself under attack, there are counterexamples of democracy and democratic activists moving forward and finding solutions. — James Stavridis, Time, "Democracy Isn't Perfect, But It Will Still Prevail," 12 July 2018 Google’s Pixelbook and the family of Chromebook devices from traditional PC makers give a great counterexample to the overbearing Windows experience. — Vlad Savov, The Verge, "Isn’t it time we declared our independence from bloatware?," 4 July 2018 Robin Zabiegalski, a 31-year-old writer who lives in Vermont, is a notable counterexample. — Jamie Ducharme, Time, "Should You Stay Friends With an Ex? Here's What Experts Say," 10 July 2018 Perhaps the sole counterexample is the sanctions that Congress overwhelmingly voted to impose on Russia for its election hack. — Zack Beauchamp, Vox, "Trump’s Russia policy is an incoherent mess," 2 Apr. 2018 Bell meant graduate students who did Prize-worthy work but lost the Nobel, unfortunately, there are many counterexamples to her assertion. — Brian Keating, WIRED, "There's Nothing Noble about Science’s Nobel Prize Gender Gap," 27 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'counterexample.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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