encounter Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a minor short-term fight
    skirmish; brush; clash.
  2. noun a casual or unexpected convergence
    meeting.
    • he still remembers their meeting in Paris
    • there was a brief encounter in the hallway
  3. noun a casual meeting with a person or thing
    coming upon.
  4. noun a hostile disagreement face-to-face
    showdown; face-off; confrontation.
  5. verb come together
    see; come across; run into; meet; run across.
    • I'll probably see you at the meeting
    • How nice to see you again!
  6. verb come upon, as if by accident; meet with
    chance; bump; happen; find.
    • We find this idea in Plato
    • I happened upon the most wonderful bakery not very far from here
    • She chanced upon an interesting book in the bookstore the other day
  7. verb be beset by
    run into.
    • The project ran into numerous financial difficulties
  8. verb experience as a reaction
    receive; meet.
    • My proposal met with much opposition
  9. verb contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle
    take on; meet; play.
    • Princeton plays Yale this weekend
    • Charlie likes to play Mary

WordNet

En*coun"ter transitive verb
Etymology
OF. encontrer; pref. en- (L. in) + contre against, L. contra. See Counter, adv.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Encountered ; present participle & verbal noun Encountering
Definitions
  1. To come against face to face; to meet; to confront, either by chance, suddenly, or deliberately; especially, to meet in opposition or with hostile intent; to engage in conflict with; to oppose; to struggle with; as, to encounter a friend in traveling; two armies encounter each other; to encounter obstacles or difficulties, to encounter strong evidence of a truth.
    Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. Acts xvii. 18.
    I am most fortunate thus accidentally to encounter you. Shak.
En*coun"ter intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To meet face to face; to have a meeting; to meet, esp. as enemies; to engage in combat; to fight; as, three armies encountered at Waterloo.
    I will encounter with Andronicus. Shak.
    Perception and judgment, employed in the investigation of all truth, have in the first place to encounter with particulars. Tatham.
En*coun"ter noun
Etymology
OF. encontre, fr. encontrer. See Encounter, v. t.
Definitions
  1. A meeting face to face; a running against; a sudden or incidental meeting; an interview.
    To shun the encounter of the vulgar crowd. Pope.
  2. A meeting, with hostile purpose; hence, a combat; a battle; as, a bloody encounter.
    As one for . . . fierce encounters fit. Spenser.
    To join their dark encounter in mid-air. Milton
    . Syn. -- Contest; conflict; fight; combat; assault; rencounter; attack; engagement; onset. See Contest.

Webster 1913