The phrase "a counterfoil" is correct and usable in written English.
It is typically used in contexts related to receipts, tickets, or forms, referring to the part that is retained by the issuer as a record.
Example: "Please keep the counterfoil of your ticket for verification at the entrance."
Alternatives: "a stub" or "a receipt portion".
The president "was supporting the Halcones as a counterfoil to the activist left-wing," and "may well have given his blessing to the use of the group" against the demonstrators, the State Department said in its report on June 17 , 1971
At his apartment, "after her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she saw that the little world inside had barely changed; it was as if the little room had been encased in a time capsule.... Wang Qiyao failed to understand that it is precisely this myriad of unchanging little worlds that serves as a counterfoil to the tumultuous changes taking place in the outside world".
NPO director Gareth McCann says it is the "fringe", a showcase named to show itself as a counterfoil to the official goings-on.
Sirtis described her character's relationship with Ziva as electric, explaining that she saw Orli as a counterfoil to Ziva's intensity and drive for vengeance.
And, as in other scholars' attempts to discern the shapes of the twenty-first-century city (see, for example, Caldeira 2001), these memories of a past, quintessentially modern city serve as a counterfoil and analytical comparison.
Under the best circumstances it results in a whiskey with a long, dry finish with just a hint of bitterness, a perfect counterfoil to the sweetness and spiciness created by extended wood contact.
Other Russian features include the liberal use of pedal points and the employment of chromaticism for decorative counterpoint and as an abrasive counterfoil to a melody.
While dátiles con tocino sounded a mite sweet, the Spanish Valderon blue cheese stuffing in the dates and the crisp bacon wrapped around them made a perfect counterfoil.
Breezy, confident and ultracompetent, Rajiv serves as a maddening counterfoil to his struggling younger brother, whose waffling and zigzag career path infuriates their father.
Is this the counterfoil To sweetest music?
This tale bookends Lost and Found in Johannesburg and its complexity is surely the perfect counterfoil to the idea that the only way to deal with an intruder in today's South Africa is to shoot four times through a locked door.
