n.
- Music the technique of setting, writing, or playing a melody or melodies in conjunction with another, according to fixed rules.
▸a melody played in conjunction with another.
- a thing forming a pleasing or notable contrast with something else.
v.
- Music add counterpoint to (a melody).
- emphasize by contrast.
- compensate for.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. contrepoint, from med. L. contrapunctum in sense ‘(song) marked over against (the original melody)’.