Main Entry: ²encounter

Function: noun

Date: 14th century

1 : a meeting between hostile factions or persons : a sudden often violent clash <an encounter between the police and demonstrators>
2 a : a chance meeting <an accidental encounter> b : a particular kind of meeting or experience with another person <a romantic encounter>
3 : a coming into the vicinity of a celestial body <the Martian encounter of a spacecraft>