countervalue means targeting an opponent's assets which are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 91 out of 100.
Why “countervalue” is a great word
COUNTERVALUE — [Adjective or Verb] (Adj.) Targeting an opponent's assets of value but not of direct military threat, such as cities; (Verb) to target such assets or to make a counter-estimate of value. From the prefix counter- (meaning "against" or "in opposition") + value. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use in 1660 and the first use in the modern military sense in 1965, where it is described as a euphemism for attacking cities. Unlike "counterforce," which seeks out missile silos for a war-fighting advantage, or the abstract strategy of "deterrence," "countervalue" is the cold, final doctrine of pure punishment. It is the unblinking radar dot fixed on a metropolis, the sterile map that translates schools and hospitals into "assets," and the quiet, bureaucratic act of quantifying a civilization not as culture but as a target coordinate—the ultimate reduction of human life to a ledger of terror, where what is loved becomes a mere unit in an equation of mutual ruin.
adj
- Targeting an opponent's assets which are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations.
verb
- To target an opponent's assets which are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations.
- To make a counter estimate of something's value.