A counter-revolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part. The adjective, "counterrevolutionary", pertains to movements that would restore the state of affairs, or the principles, that prevailed during a prerevolutionary era.
A counterrevolution can be positive or negative in its consequences; depending, in part, on the beneficent or pernicious character of the revolution that gets reversed. For example, the transitory success of Agis and Cleomenes of ancient Sparta in restoring the constitution of Lycurgus was considered by Plutarch to be counterrevolutionary in a positive sense. During the French Revolution the Jacobins saw the Counterrevolution in the Vendée as distinctly negative.
In some ways, the supporters of Jacobitism may be placed in this category. The Jacobites were supporters of the Stuart house's claim to the English throne since 1688. The Jacobines survive to this day in their support for the Stuart family's claim to the English throne.
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