These words refer to a matching of one extreme with another so that a stable or static situation results. Neutralize suggests that this stability is achieved by adding a substance that will cause a change in the nature of something: an alkali that will neutralize the excessive acidity of the soil; an antidote to neutralize the poison. The word often suggests that some danger or threat is rendered harmless: government housing projects to neutralize the effects of slum living. The word can, however, refer to the frustrating of some positive tendency: the doubt and suspicions that surrounded him and neutralized all his efforts to make peace.

Counteract is more forceful than neutralize because it suggests an act that not only restores things as they were, but that may carry the action past that point into the opposite direction: They worked vigorously to counteract his apathy; pills to counteract her anaemia by building up her red blood cells. Counterbalance , or balance, literally suggests an equalizing of one weight by another: counterbalancing the demands of labour and management with a concern for the nation’s welfare.

Offset suggests most specifically the replacing of something lost by a new thing equivalent to it: offsetting his losses at the races by his successes in share speculations; The low selling price more than offset the disadvantages of the house.