Italian

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Etymology

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From contro- +‎ battere.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /kon.troˈbat.te.re/
  • Rhymes: -attere
  • Hyphenation: con‧tro‧bàt‧te‧re

Verb

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controbàttere (first-person singular present controbàtto, first-person singular past historic controbattéi, past participle controbattùto, auxiliary avére)

  1. (transitive) to counterattack or counterstrike
  2. (transitive, intransitive) to answer back; to refute; to rebut
    non so come controbattereI don't know how to refute (it)
    controbattere un'accusato rebut an accusation
    controbatté di non saperne nulla
    he responded that he did not know anything about it

Usage notes

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  • When used intransitively, must be followed either by [che + ind.] or [di + inf.], as shown in the third usage example.

Conjugation

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