counterculture

American  

[koun-ter-kuhl-cher] / ˈkaʊn tərˌkʌl tʃər /

noun

1. the culture and lifestyle of those people, especially among the young, who reject or oppose the dominant values and behavior of society.

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counterculture British  

/ ˈkaʊntəˌkʌltʃə /

noun

1. an alternative culture, deliberately at variance with the social norm

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counterculture Cultural  

1. A protest movement by American youth that arose in the late 1960s and faded during the late 1970s. According to some, young people in the United States were forming a culture of their own, opposed to the culture of Middle America. (See hippies and Woodstock.)

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Other Word Forms

• countercultural adjective
• counterculturalist noun
• counterculturist noun

Etymology

Origin of counterculture

First recorded in 1965–70; counter- + culture

Explanation

A group of people who do and believe things outside of what society considers normal or typical can be called a counterculture. A counterculture might organize itself around opposition to war or unusual ideas about raising children, for example. A counterculture is at odds with, and sometimes in direct opposition to, the prevailing norms — this was the case at the beginning of the anti-war "hippie" counterculture that formed in the 1960s as a protest against US involvement in the Vietnam War. The term first emerged around this time in Theodore Roszak's 1969 book "The Making of a Counter Culture."

Example Sentences

Land art, originating in the 1960s, evolved from a counterculture movement into a global genre, emphasizing universal awe over commerce.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

For a blip in this post-Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” era, when queerness is once again taboo, the counterculture went mainstream.

From Salon • Mar. 1, 2026

Founded in San Francisco by Weir, Jerry Garcia, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann, the Grateful Dead became one of the leading music groups to emerge from the 1960s counterculture movement.

From Barron's • Jan. 11, 2026

The Dead’s graphic symbols, including “dancing” bears, the “Stealie” lightning skull and instrument-wielding terrapins, were plastered across innumerable merchandise and became a calling card of hippie-influenced counterculture over the ensuing decades.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 10, 2026

One part of this counterculture was the environmental movement.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan